- Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday (26) spoke with her BRICS (group featuring Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) counterparts over key areas of cooperation that would be crucial in supporting recovery of the bloc’s economies while protecting against future uncertainties posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the discussion, she highlighted that BRICS has been playing a crucial role in dealing with crises such as the current pandemic and will continue doing so.
The finance minister virtually chaired the second meeting of BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors (FMCBG) along with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das under India’s BRICS chairpersonship, a statement from the finance ministry said.
During the meeting, the FMCBGs endorsed the BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors’ statement on global economic outlook and responding to Covid crisis with an annexure on a snapshot of policy experiences of the member countries dealing with the economic impact of the pandemic, the statement said.
Sitharaman said India attaches great significance to presenting the statement before the global community since it unanimously voices viewpoints of the BRICS nations on critical aspects of underpinning current international policy conversations on post-pandemic recovery.
A ‘Technical Report on Social Infrastructure: Financing and Use of Digital Technologies’ was also endorsed, it said.
The report is an exercise towards collaborative knowledge sharing between BRICS economies on social infrastructure, including on how the governments have leveraged digital technologies to enhance access and improve service delivery, especially in health and education sectors.
The BRICS finance ministers also welcomed the conclusion of negotiations on the text of Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance in customs matters, along with deliberating progress made on other customs-related issues.
Both the Indian finance minister and the RBI governor appreciated the BRICS members for their cooperation and support to the Indian chair in preparation and finalisation of significant and relevant deliverables of BRICS finance, the statement added.
