India will push for the expansion of the capital of the World Bank, similar to that of the International Monetary Fund, a top Indian official said on Thursday, ahead of the key G-20 Summit on Friday to review the progress made to check the global economic crisis.
"From our point of view, we would also like to have the Capital of the World Bank to be expanded and of course there is the whole question of climate change which is very much on the agenda in the run up to Copenhagen," said Meera Shankar, Indian Ambassador to the United States.
Shankar told reporters on the eve of the start of the two-day G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh that one of the issues that is being discussed is "the issue of financing for climate change for developing countries and I think there is the view that this should be done through the existing multilateral financial institutions".
"While that is something which can be considered, we feel that there should be net additionality of funding and should not detract from the existing orientation and existing missions of these institutions," she said.
Shankar said this was one of the suggestions made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the first G-20 meeting that many poor developing countries will be very adversely effected by the economic crisis and argued that there is a need to provide additional capital to the multilateral institutions so that they are in a position to respond quickly to any crisis requirements from these countries.
From India's point of view there is a whole question of reform of the international financial architecture, the envoy said.
Prime Minister Singh is leading Indian delegation to the summit of top 20 economies which account for more than 85 per cent of the global economy.
"The G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh will review the progress that has been made with regard to the international economic crisis," Shankar said, giving her preview of the Pittsburgh Summit.
The envoy said finance minister of the G20 who met in London feel that there are signs that the crisis is bottoming out and that eventually countries may have to begin to see how they would phase out some of the extraordinary measures that they have put in place to expand demand but for the moment there is need to continue these and some caution is warranted.
"This is going to be one of the key areas where the leaders are going to share information and assessments and decide on how they plan to proceed in the coming months,"
Shankar said, as top Indian officials led by the Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia, continued deliberations with other G-20 members in Pittsburgh.
She said at the first G20 Summit our prime minister had proposed that emerging developing countries should be 'included in institutions such as the Basal Committee on Banking Supervision'.
"We are glad that these suggestions have been taken on board and we have now been included in these institutions," Shankar said.
The Indian envoy said the whole question of reform of the government structure, voice and vote share in these key institutions still remain because they really represent the world as it emerged after the Second World War and not the world of today where there are many new players who have to be accommodated and whose actions impinge also on the global situation," she said.
Shankar said one of the issues that is being discussed is 'the issue of financing for climate change for developing countries and I think there is the view that this should be done through the existing multilateral financial institutions'.
"While that is something which can be considered, we feel that there should be net additionality of funding and should not detract from the existing orientation and existing missions of these institutions," she said.
Besides this must be within the framework of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change not outside the framework, she argued.
Observing that India is against protectionism, Shankar said: "We feel that it is very important that the flow of trade and investment is kept open particularly at a time of crisis."
Giving the example of great depression of the last century, she said it is important to keep these flow of trade and investment open.
Shankar informed that India has convened a ministerial meeting in September in New Delhi to see how we can bring the Doha Round back on track and as a follow up to that meeting experts were expected to meet in October in Geneva.
"Of course, we would like to work with other countries for a fruitful, substantial and equitable outcome," the Indian envoy underlined.
Image: World Bank
