World Bank Group should work together with member countries to explore innovative financing solutions

NEW DELHI (INDIA):India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley arrived in Washington, D.C., USA yesterday after a successful visit to Canada.nnIn Washington, the Finance Minister held a meeting with the World Bank Group President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, where he acknowledged the long-standing and mutually beneficial relationship between the World Bank Group and India since the inception of the World Bank and also appreciated the support of the World Bank to the many significant achievements of India in its development process, especially the World Bank Support in the six priority areas identified by the Prime Minster for Multilateral Development Banks? assistance.nnWhile discussing the policy issues related to the World Bank Group, the Finance Minister  Jaitley indicated India?s strong support for the capital increase and its readiness to take larger share than the dynamic formula would require.nnHe also emphasized that the World Bank Group should work together with the member countries to explore innovative financing solutions.nnThe Secretary General of the Commonwealth Patricia Scotland also met the Finance Minister. Later in the evening, the Finance Minister interacted with several US State Department officials during the reception hosted in his honour.nnShaktikanta Das, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India held a bilateral meeting with United States Treasury Under-Secretary, Nathan Sheets. After exchanging notes on the state of their respective economies, both sides took stock of the work done on technical cooperation on NIIF, public debt management and municipal bonds and agreed to expedite progress on these issues. During the course of their interaction, Secretary (EA) Das also highlighted the sustained rapid growth of Indian economy and its ambitious reform agenda including the landmark Goods and Services Tax, passage of the recent national bankruptcy law and liberalization of foreign direct investment.nnThe Finance Minister Jaitley is currently on official tour to Washington to attend the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)and the World Bank and other associated meetings. He is accompanied by Dr. Urijit Patel, Governor RBI, Das, Secretary, Economic Affairs, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor and other officials.