Commonwealth Finance Ministers to meet in Washington DC

9 September 2010

Finance ministers from Commonwealth countries – across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, North America and the Pacific – will meet in Washington DC on 8 October 2010 to map out strategies for continuing to deal with the impact of the global economic crisis.

The meeting, which takes place during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, will be held in the IMF’s HQ1 building.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said that one of the issues that Ministers will discuss is the potential relationship between the Commonwealth and the G20.

“The G20 has been established at leaders’ level, for almost two years now, as a framework of global governance. But it can only represent a part of global public opinion” Mr Sharma said.

“Five of the Commonwealth members are in the G20, but 49 are not. There is a ‘G172’ of those countries which do not sit at its table. But in a Commonwealth meeting, we are able to bring together those inside it and outside it, to express and discuss mutual concerns.”

Ministers will also discuss ways of promoting environmentally sustainable growth, as well as addressing the challenges of small and vulnerable states in managing their debt.

“For many years, it has been clear that a growing number of small states have seen rising and increasingly unsustainable levels of domestic and external debt. In Washington, we will discuss the policy options to address this challenge, including innovative approaches to sustainable debt management,” the Secretary-General said.

Note to Editors

There will a press conference at 6:00pm, at the end of the meeting, in Conference Room 2, in the IMF’s HQ2 Building.

All journalists accredited to cover the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings are invited to attend. Journalists wishing to attend and/or arrange interviews should contact Mr Julius Mucunguzi, Media Officer for the conference on: j.mucunguzi@commonwealth.int or telephone: +44789459351

This is the list of Commonwealth countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji Islands*, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru**, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu and Zambia.

* Fiji Islands was fully suspended from membership of the Commonwealth on 1 September 2009 pending restoration of a democratically elected government.

**Nauru is a member in arrears.

For further details about the meeting, please visit: www.thecommonwealth.org/cfmm2010

SOURCE: Commonwealth Secretariat