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G20 host Indonesia calls for joint ministerial forum to fight food crisis
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati reminded member countries that expectations for the meetings were high and that a failure to reach their objectives would result in dire consequences, especially for low-income countries.
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Indonesia's Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shake hands as they hold a bilateral talks during the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, July 15, 2022. (Reuters/Made Nagi)
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati called on Friday for the Group of 20 to take concrete action to tackle ongoing food and energy crises and appealed to member countries to engage in more discussion and less politics amid the escalating global impact of the war in Ukraine.
Sri Mulyani, on behalf of G20 host Indonesia, expressed concern about the global energy crisis and growing food insecurity resulting from surging commodity prices and supply shortages induced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, noting that the issues were threatening the recovery from the pandemic and macroeconomic stability.
She reminded member countries that expectations for the meetings were high and that a failure to reach their objectives would result in dire consequences, especially for low-income countries.
“We are hoping we can discuss more and be less political regarding real technical issues that matter to all of us,” Sri Mulyani said in her opening remarks at the third Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting.
“We believe the world desperately needs more and more bridges and more action, not walls and war,” she added.
The Bali meeting came after a raucous second FMCBG session in Washington, DC, that saw finance ministers, led by the United States, walk out in protest of Russia’s presence at the forum after its invasion of Ukraine.
A day before Sri Mulyani gave her remarks, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called Russia's war in Ukraine the "greatest challenge" to the global economy and said members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's government had “no place” at the talks.
