SME Times News Bureau | 29 Jul, 2020
Union Minister of
Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman attended the 5th
Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of Asian Infrastructure Investment
Bank (AIIB) through video conference in New Delhi today.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on
Tuesday suggested the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) establish its
regional presence for effective project management and implementation.
She said this addressing the 5th annual meeting of the Board
of Governors of AIIB through video conference.
Every year at the
Annual Meeting, the Board of Governors meet to take key decisions that impact
the Bank’s future.
The discussions at the
meeting broadly covered official business including election of the President
of the AIIB and a roundtable discussion on the theme ‘AIIB 2030-Supporting
Asia’s Development over the Next Decade’.
Sitharaman was
identified as a Lead Speaker at the roundtable discussion. In her intervention,
Smt. Sitharaman appreciated AIIB’s efforts for fast tracking financial
assistance of about $10 Billion to its member countries including India to
combat COVID-19 pandemic.
She mentioned about
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative of creating a COVID-19 Emergency Fund
for SAARC Nations and India’s efforts in supplying critical medical health kits
to tackle the COVID-19, and now supporting global efforts of COVID-19 vaccine
trials. Besides, the Finance Minister highlighted India’s participation in the
“G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative”.
Sitharaman also outlined various measures taken
by the Government of India to respond to the COVID-19, including the $23
Billion Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKP) and $295 Billion Atma
Nirbhar Bharat Package (ANBP), which aim at protecting all sectors and sections
of the economy.
The Reserve Bank of India eased the monetary
policy especially reduced reserve requirements and introduced liquidity in the
economy to the extent of almost 3.9% of GDP.
The Finance Minister mentioned that to give a boost to the infrastructure development, India has launched
the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) 2020-2025 with estimated expenditure
of $1.4 trillion that has created a plethora of fresh investment opportunities
for AIIB’s partnerships.
Furthermore, she mentioned some of the
expectations from the Bank, including introduction of new financing
instruments, mobilising private sector finance, providing financing for social
infrastructure to achieve the SDGs 2030, and integrating development of climate
resilient and sustainable energy access infrastructure into the recovery response
to the COVID-19 crisis.
Sitharaman also
suggested the Bank to establish Regional Presence which would aid in effective
project management and implementation.