As part of her participation in this year's meetings of the World Bank, Minister for Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, will be joining the Commonwealth Finance Ministers meetings which takes place in Tokyo next week.
The Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting for 2012 which Okonjo-Iweala will be attending is billed to take place in Tokyo, Japan, on 10 October.
The main ministerial meeting will be preceded by sessions for senior finance officials, central bank governors, and ministers from Commonwealth small and vulnerable economies on 9 October.?
The meeting’s primary objective will be for ministers and officials to discuss practical ways of addressing current challenges faced by their respective economies.
The meetings will take place at the Tokyo International Forum, venue of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank Group.
Key issues to be discussed include: high levels of youth unemployment; managing increasing volatility and building resilience to deal with exogenous shocks; tracking the progress of managing debt among Commonwealth countries; and strengthening the relationship between the Commonwealth and the G20.
Senior finance officials will examine mobilisation of domestic capital for investment and will seek to find a common approach to shaping the post-2015 development framework ahead of the target year for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Central bank governors will discuss the challenges associated with managing long-term reserves and sovereign wealth funds.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said: “Commonwealth finance ministers meetings provide a crucial platform for continuing political level engagement and dialogue on G20 issues, and for sustained advocacy aimed at advancing awareness, understanding and support for the concerns of those countries without a seat at the G20 table.”
Mr Sharma said a key challenge calling for concerted attention is the creation of jobs for millions of unemployed youth across the Commonwealth.
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