Chidambaram in Beijing for G-20 meet

Finance Minister P Chidambaram would be attending a key G-20 ministerial meeting on various developmental issues and hold bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Jin Renqing.

Chidambaram arrived in Beijing on Friday and would then leave for Xianghe city in north China's Hebei province where the seventh G-20 ministerial meet would also review the role of Bretton Woods Institutions.

The Reserve Bank of India Governor Y V Reddy would be attending the meeting of G-20 central bank governors.

The theme of the October 15-16 meeting is 'Global Cooperation: Promoting Balanced and Orderly World Economic Development.'

China's Minister of Finance, Jin Renqing, who is also the host, said that he expected "substantial fruits" at the ministerial meeting.

The G-20 members will, through dialogues, seek ways to overcome imbalance in development and the limitation of the current international economic system, Jin said.

In addition to a regular joint communique, China plans to call on the other members to pass another two documents, one on the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions, and the other on issues of international development, Jin said.

To gain these fruits, China has selected some major issues in international economic development as topics and held two meetings of deputies in China's south-western city of Chongqing in March and the north-eastern coastal city of Dalian in September.

As one of the major members of the Group 20, China actively participates in the meeting and plays an important role in promoting the financial system reform and enhancing international cooperation, Jin said.

The two-day meeting has five topics: the reform of Breton Woods Institutions; the development of financing; the innovation of development concept; immigration; the current global and regional economy and development.

Together, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are referred to as the Bretton Woods Institutions or BWIs, which were created at Bretton Woods New Hampshire in 1944.

This is the first time that China is hosting the G20 meeting.

Established in 1999, the G-20 Group includes major industrial nations and emerging market countries, accounting for over 90 per cent of the global gross domestic product, 80 per cent of trade, and two-thirds of population in the whole world.

The G20 members include China, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and United States and the European Union.  International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will also attend the meet.