The Treasurer and the Reserve Bank Governor Ian Macfarlane will attend the 2003 meeting of the G-20 Finance Minsters and Central Bank Governors in Morelia, Mexico this weekend.
Ministers will discuss issues including policy challenges faced by countries in promoting world economic growth in the medium term; mechanisms for preventing and resolving financial crises; progress on measures to combat the financing of terrorism and other forms of financial crime; and the role of financial institution building in meeting the challenges of globalisation. The group will also discuss its future strategic priorities.
The G-20 was formed in late 1999 in the wake of the Asian economic crisis, as an informal mechanism for dialogue among countries within the framework of the Bretton Woods system which created the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
It comprises the world's biggest economies, the G-8, and other systemically important countries, including Australia. The Finance Minister of the country holding the (rotating) Presidency of the European Union, and the President of the European Central Bank also participate in the meetings, as do the Managing Director of the IMF and the President of the World Bank.
The Group provides an important forum for Australia to contribute to the international economic debate.
The G-20's members account for almost 65 per cent of the world's population and over 75 per cent of the world's economy at purchasing power parities. Unlike most other international economic groupings, it spans the developing and the industrialised world, with membership accounting for around 70 per cent of the world's poor. Mexico is the Chair of the G-20 in 2003, and Mexico's Finance Minister Jose Francisco Gil Diaz will chair the Morelia meeting.
The Treasurer will leave for Mexico on Friday and will return to Australia on Wednesday.