NO.072

G-20 ANNUAL MEETING: NEW DELHI, INDIA

The Treasurer and the Reserve Bank Governor Ian Macfarlane will represent Australia

at the 2002 meeting of the G-20 Finance Minsters and Central Bank Governors

in New Delhi this weekend.

Ministers will discuss issues including means to reduce the risk of national

economic crises and to resolve them if they do occur; progress on measures to

combat the financing of terrorism; how to assist in the reduction of global

poverty and improve the delivery of aid; the experience of G-20 economies with

globalisation and the policy challenges it presents.

The G-20 was formed in late 1999 in the wake of the Asian economic crisis,

as an informal mechanism for dialogue among systemically important countries,

within the framework of the Bretton Woods system which created the International

Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

It comprises the world’s biggest economies, the G-7, plus Argentina, Australia,

Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa,

Korea, and Turkey. The Finance Minister of the country holding the (rotating)

Presidency of the European Union, and the President of the European Central

Bank also participate in the meetings, as do the Managing Director of the IMF

and the President of the World Bank.

The G-20’s members account for almost 65 per cent of the world’s population

and over 75 per cent of the world’s economy at purchasing power parities. Unlike

most other international economic groupings, it spans the developing and the

industrialised world, with membership accounting for around 70 per cent of the

world’s poor. India is the Chair of the G-20 in 2002, and India’s Finance Minister

Jaswant Singh will chair the New Delhi meeting.

The Treasurer will also undertake bilateral meetings with counterparts and

with Indian business leaders.

The Treasurer will leave for New Delhi tomorrow (Thursday) and will return

to Australia on Monday.

20 November 2002

Contact: Niki Savva

02 62777340