Poolse minister van Financiën neemt deel aan G20 in Washington (en)

On September 22-23 Polish Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski will attend meetings of the G20 Finance Ministers in Washington. This will be the first time that Rostowski has taken part in a G20 meeting during Poland's EU Presidency during the latter half of 2011.

"Poland, both as the country holding the Presidency and as a member of the European Union, feels responsible for finding a way out of the crisis," the Finance Minister declared during the press conference.

The G20 sessions will be linked to the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington on 23-25 September. The annual meetings of the IMF and WB are among the premier events in the world of finance. This year, due to the economic crisis, they are attracting the particular attention of analysts and financial markets.

Rostowski underlined that "the agreement by the five most important banks in the world to provide mutual financial liquidity is an exceptionally important development".

The G20 finance ministers will meet twice during their stay in Washington. The first meeting on Thursday night, with the participation of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, will focus on the state of the world economy and the implementation of commitments made by G20 countries in Seoul last year. "Politico-economic coordination at world level, with the purpose of reducing the instabilities in different countries around the world, is a crucial task for the G20," Rostowski stressed. It can be expected that much of the discussion at the upcoming meeting will focus on the crisis in the euro zone and the measures being taken to keep it from spreading. " We want to tell our G20 global partners several important things - and we'll be speaking on behalf of the entire European Union. First of all, that Europe has made a choice in face of the crisis: it chose greater economic integration," the Minister announced. The meeting will be informal and no communiqué is expected upon its conclusion.

On Friday afternoon the Finance Ministers will be joined by G20 development ministers to discuss the financing of development policy and ways of curtailing the effects of climate change. On development policy, G20 wants to concentrate on two priorities:

• ? 

  upgrading the infrastructure of the world's poorest countries, and
• ? 

  ensuring food security.

A short communiqué will be issued after the meeting, which will also be attended by a representative of the Polish Foreign Minister on behalf of the Presidency.

It is regular practice that the European Union speaks with one voice during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The common EU position will be based on two documents endorsed during the ECOFIN Council session in Wroclaw on 16 September:

• ? 

  the address delivered by Jacek Rostowski in his capacity as President of the ECOFIN Council during the session of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, and
• ? 

  the EU's common position regarding G20 Terms of Reference.

"The new economic order introduced through the so-called six-pack might well serve as a guideline for other countries of the world in the G20 framework," commented the Finance Minister.

The Presidency and the European Commission will report to EU Finance Ministers on the G20 meetings at the ECOFIN session scheduled for 4 October.

The next meeting of G20 Finance Ministers is due in Paris on 15 October. It will be entirely devoted to preparations for the G20 Summit in Cannes on 3-4 November.

Supplementary information

The country holding the EU Presidency - along with the European Commission and the European Central Bank - represents the European Union in the work of the G20 at ministerial and working levels. This role involves the coordination of the drafting of the EU's common position on issues discussed by the G20 and - once it has been fully prepared through the Union's decision-making process - its presentation during G20 meetings.

The G20 Group was established in 1997 in response to the Asian financial crisis. It is composed of 19 states and the European Union[1]. Up to 2008 the G20 primarily focused on international financial stability, development of the financial markets and regional economic integration. After the global financial crisis exploded in 2008, the G20 - as the best forum for dialogue between developed and developing countries - became the main vehicle for the coordination of world economic policy. The meetings of G20 Heads of State and Government became the most spectacular sign of the Group's growing importance[2].

In 2011 the work of the G20 is being chaired by France which has proposed the following priorities for the Group: (i) reform of the international monetary system, (ii) strengthening of oversight and regulation of the financial sector,

(iii) combating commodity price volatility, (iv) supporting employment and strengthening the social dimension of globalisation, (v) fighting corruption and fraud, and (vi) development policy. The debate on these issues is mainly conducted during the meetings of Finance Ministers and their Deputies (G20 Deputies)[3], and also within working groups. The chief aim of these meetings is to hammer out a common position for the G20 which will be adopted in the form of a political declaration by state leaders at the G20 Summit in Cannes (3-4 November).

The European Union (i.e. indirectly all its Member States) is represented at the G20 by the country holding the Presidency of the EU Council, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. However, the head of state of the country holding the EU Presidency does not attend G20 summits; the EU is represented by the President of the European Council. G20 members include Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy, while Spain and Holland are regularly invited to take part in the work of the Group. This situation makes it crucial to work out and consistently present a common position of the EU if European interests are to be effectively defended at the G20 forum. The common position (known as the Terms of Reference) is prepared by the Economic and Financial Council and is then approved by the ECOFIN Council. The EU's position for G20 summits is adopted by the European Council.

www.mf.gov.pl

[1] US, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Canada, China, India, Brazil, Russia, RSA, Indonesia, Mexico, Argentina, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Australia.

[2] Five G20 summits have taken place to date: Washington ( November 2008), London (April 2009), Pittsburgh (September 2009), Toronto (June 2010), Seoul (November 2010). Starting in 2011 the summits will be held annually (next year in Mexico).

[3] The Polish representative is the Secretary of State at the Finance Ministry, Ludwik Kotecki.