This
week, Secretary Jack Lew traveled to Istanbul, Turkey to meet with his
international counterparts at the G-20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central
Bank Governors. The G-20 is a forum comprised of the world’s largest
economies and, each year, Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from
around the world meet to coordinate on policies designed to help promote global
economic stability and sustainable growth.
While in Istanbul, Secretary Lew held
bilateral meetings with leaders including Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali
Babacan, Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso, Republic
of Korea Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan, European Central Bank President
Mario Draghi, and Bank of Mexico Governor Agustin Carstens to discuss a range
of topics, including financial regulations, international tax issues, and
combatting illicit finance.
After
the G-20 meeting and following-up on President Obama’s recent visit to India,
Secretary Lew traveled to Mumbai for meetings
with Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and Indian regulators.
Additionally, he participated in a roundtable discussion with Indian business
and financial leaders hosted by the U.S.-India Business Council and
Confederation of Indian Industry.
Secretary Lew also visited a Unique Identification Enrollment center
in Koli Village.
On
Thursday, Secretary Lew was in Delhi to co-chair
the fifth annual meeting of the U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership
with Indian Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley. The meeting focused on expanding
macroeconomic cooperation to support global growth, strengthening our financial
sectors, resolving tax disputes, combatting illicit finance, and facilitating
long-term investment. While in Delhi, Secretary Lew also met with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to discuss issues of economic interest to the
United States and India.
The Secretary’s visit helped deepen our partnership with
India as well as our cooperation on a range of economic and financial issues
important to both countries.
Hagar Chemali is the Spokesperson for Terrorism and Financial
Intelligence at the United States Department of the Treasury.