ID :
171990
Wed, 03/30/2011 - 18:24
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/171990
The shortlink copeid
G-20 to eye global monetary system reform at China meet
NANJING, China, March 30 Kyodo - Finance ministers, central bankers, academics and economists from the Group of 20 developed and developing countries are set to hold a meeting Thursday in Nanjing, China, to discuss reform of the international monetary system.
China says its currency policy, criticized by the United States and European countries as a cause of global economic imbalances, would not be on the agenda, while some delegates say the devastating impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan may be discussed.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who chairs the G-20 and the Group of Eight major nations this year, and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan will open the High-Level Seminar on the International Monetary System.
After opening the event, Sarkozy will fly to Tokyo for talks with Prime Minister Naoto Kan and offer support to the Japanese people, making him the first foreign leader to visit Japan since the disaster that triggered radioactive leaks from a nuclear power plant in one of the affected areas.
France has made reform of the global monetary system one of the key themes of his yearlong presidency of the G-20, along with reducing economic imbalances and volatility in commodity prices.
At the seminar, delegates are expected to discuss the current state of the international monetary system and its shortcomings, measures to cope with speculative capital flows, ways to strengthen global financial safety nets and surveillance of macroeconomic management, and the role of the International Monetary Fund, among other issues, according to French officials.
Participants will include U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China.
Rintaro Tamaki, vice finance minister for international affairs, will represent Japan at the seminar.
''Mr. Tamaki is expected to touch on Japan's reconstruction efforts from the massive quake and joint currency market intervention by the Group of Seven industrialized nations (on March 18) to stem a surge in the yen'' in the wake of the magnitude 9.0 quake and subsequent tsunami, a Japanese Finance Ministry official said.
The official, requesting anonymity, stressed that ''excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates are undesirable for economic growth and financial stability.''
At a meeting in February in Paris, G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors agreed to a set of indicators to measure economic imbalances between surplus exporters such as China and indebted nations including the United States.
Global imbalances are reflected by the huge U.S. trade and current account deficit versus China's large surplus and dollar reserves. Washington has been prodding Beijing to let its currency, the yuan, rise in value against the dollar to help address such imbalances.
Representing about 80 percent of the world's gross domestic product, the G-20 groups Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
China says its currency policy, criticized by the United States and European countries as a cause of global economic imbalances, would not be on the agenda, while some delegates say the devastating impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan may be discussed.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who chairs the G-20 and the Group of Eight major nations this year, and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan will open the High-Level Seminar on the International Monetary System.
After opening the event, Sarkozy will fly to Tokyo for talks with Prime Minister Naoto Kan and offer support to the Japanese people, making him the first foreign leader to visit Japan since the disaster that triggered radioactive leaks from a nuclear power plant in one of the affected areas.
France has made reform of the global monetary system one of the key themes of his yearlong presidency of the G-20, along with reducing economic imbalances and volatility in commodity prices.
At the seminar, delegates are expected to discuss the current state of the international monetary system and its shortcomings, measures to cope with speculative capital flows, ways to strengthen global financial safety nets and surveillance of macroeconomic management, and the role of the International Monetary Fund, among other issues, according to French officials.
Participants will include U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China.
Rintaro Tamaki, vice finance minister for international affairs, will represent Japan at the seminar.
''Mr. Tamaki is expected to touch on Japan's reconstruction efforts from the massive quake and joint currency market intervention by the Group of Seven industrialized nations (on March 18) to stem a surge in the yen'' in the wake of the magnitude 9.0 quake and subsequent tsunami, a Japanese Finance Ministry official said.
The official, requesting anonymity, stressed that ''excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates are undesirable for economic growth and financial stability.''
At a meeting in February in Paris, G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors agreed to a set of indicators to measure economic imbalances between surplus exporters such as China and indebted nations including the United States.
Global imbalances are reflected by the huge U.S. trade and current account deficit versus China's large surplus and dollar reserves. Washington has been prodding Beijing to let its currency, the yuan, rise in value against the dollar to help address such imbalances.
Representing about 80 percent of the world's gross domestic product, the G-20 groups Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
