NO.091

G-20 MINISTERIAL MEETING, MORELIA, MEXICO

The Treasurer and the Reserve Bank Governor Ian Macfarlane will attend

the 2003 meeting of the G-20 Finance Minsters and Central Bank Governors

in Morelia, Mexico this weekend.

Ministers will discuss issues including policy challenges faced by countries

in promoting world economic growth in the medium term; mechanisms for

preventing and resolving financial crises; progress on measures to combat

the financing of terrorism and other forms of financial crime; and the

role of financial institution building in meeting the challenges of globalisation.

The group will also discuss its future strategic priorities.

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

as an informal mechanism for dialogue among 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-8, and other systemically

important countries, including Australia. 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 Group provides an important forum for Australia to contribute to

the international economic debate.

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. Mexico is the Chair of the G-20 in 2003,

and Mexico’s Finance Minister Jose Francisco Gil Diaz will chair the

Morelia meeting.

The Treasurer will leave for Mexico on Friday and will return to Australia

on Wednesday.

CANBERRA

22 October 2003

Contact: David Alexander (02) 6277 7340