Buenos Aires – The first meeting of finance ministers and presidents of central banks of the G20 took place in Argentina from Monday 19th and Tuesday, March 20th, at the Convention and Exhibition Center (CEC) of Buenos Aires.
22 finance ministers, 17 presidents of Central Banks and 10 holders of international organizations, covering key issues for the global economy attended the G20 Summit. Among them are the international financial architecture, the overall tax system and financial regulations, all issues that are part of the G20 discussions for years. Other issues such as the future of work and infrastructure development, arising from Argentina raised the priorities for this year.
Minister of Finance and the Argentine Central Bank president stressed the similarities of the importance of international trade, the need to follow up on the criptomonedas and tax challenges of the digital economy.
In a press conference held at the end of the first meeting of finance ministers and presidents of central banks of the G20, the finance minister of Argentina, Nicolas Dujovne, and the president of the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA), Federico Sturzenegger, they agreed to reaffirm the importance of international trade as a key factor for development.
Dujovne explained that the agreements reached constitute “a clear and decisive message in terms of the benefits of international trade.” The minister noted the importance of the G20 as a coordinating policy at international level and recalled the positive role the forum to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis of 2008. In that sense, he anticipated that the forum will continue to work in favor of dialogue and the search for consensus.
Dujovne conducted a review of the agenda of the central issues discussed during the meeting, which included the future of work and financing of infrastructure, two of the priorities that drove Argentina. “What we want to achieve is that all the countries in the G20 working to create mechanisms for there to be a sustained and inclusive growth in the world” he said.
Dujovne also added that during the debate a general consensus on the need for progress in generating necessary to tax the digital economy tools was achieved. In these new economic scenarios, he said, “there is a gap in terms of how to collect taxes.”
Sturzenegger, meanwhile, highlighted the level achieved during the meetings held dialogue and that despite the tensions around trade always 8The “constructive approach between the parties” remained. While “the feeling yesterday was that the issue of international trade was at the center of the debate”, it was possible to make progress. “Today the feeling is that there was a cooperative look”.
President of the Argentine Central Bank stated that the meetings arose the need for a discussion about the criptoactivos denominated and two positions emerged: one in favor of regulation and work on cybersecurity, and other line suggesting that if arise such proposals is that the traditional means of payment need improvement. Consensus, said the official, fixed on the need to follow up the issue. “We have to take these issues because the change was never so fast , ” he said.