[www.inewsguyana.com] – Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh is attending a series of meetings in Washington DC aimed at addressing economic and development issues currently confronting the global community.
A press release from his Ministry noted that he participated in the sixth meeting of Finance Ministers of the Americas and the Caribbean, and subsequently in the 2014 Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting yesterday, Wednesday, October 08.
According to the release, at the meeting of Finance Ministers of the Americas and the Caribbean considered an agenda that addressed the macro economic challenges faced by the hemisphere along with opportunities through closer regional integration and greater inter-regional trade.
“Following the meeting, Minister Singh indicated that he welcomes the discussion on regional integration, given the opportunities that closer integration offers to the smallest countries of the hemisphere in particular. Resolving the impediments to closer integration, including infrastructural and financing gaps, is a priority worthy of the highest attention, Minister Singh emphasized,” the press release stated.
At the Commonwealth meeting, Minister Singh and his colleagues considered the findings of a report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing which explores options for mobilizing resources to achieve sustainable development goals.
It was noted that the Finance Ministers were also briefed on the committee’s ideas for funding social and economic development.
The Ministers also discussed proposals for reform that were designed to improve ways of mobilizing, measuring, and monitoring the effectiveness of Official Development Assistance.
They also discussed key areas that require further work and political will for a successful UN Financing for Development Conference, the third of which will convene in Addis Ababa in July 2015.
“It is imperative that countries like ours use the opportunity provided by these meetings to advocate our unique interests and, in particular, to ensure that the peculiar circumstances faced by small states like ours are better understood and are more effectively responded to by the international community,” Minister Singh said.
Minister Singh chaired the Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting in 2007 in Guyana.
