Canadian pensions funds would be keen to explore investing in infrastructure funds in India as the country offers a stable investment climate, finance minister Chrystia Freeland said on Sunday.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, meeting Freeland on the sidelines of a gathering of G20 finance ministers and central bankers here, discussed progress on bilateral trade negotiations, the finance ministry said in a tweet.
“The two ministers also discussed the progress being made on the ongoing various trade-related negotiations between India and Canada,” the ministry said.
The ministers discussed continued constructive participation in building consensus on the G20 Finance Track work streams, it added.
Sitharaman on Sunday underlined the need for embracing innovative strategies to attract private investment, bridge financing gaps and foster sustainable development of infrastructure in cities.
Addressing the ‘’G20 Infrastructure Investment Dialogue’’, the minister said that the situation with regard to financing infrastructure has become even more challenging in the wake of monetary policy tightening in key markets.
The tight monetary policy leads to the hardening of interest rates and the burgeoning debt repayment burden.
Against this backdrop, she said, “Innovative financing and funding mechanisms for cities could have significant potential to fill the increasing (funding) gaps."
At a separate G20 track, Sitharaman Sunday made a case for further strengthening of global architecture to combat financial crimes, money laundering and sharing of information about different asset classes including crypto currencies.
Addressing a ‘’G20 High-Level Tax Symposium on Combating Tax Evasion, Corruption and Money Laundering’’, the minister exuded confidence that G20 will continue to assist the jurisdictions in enhancing their law enforcement capacity.
Under the G20 presidency, Sitharaman said, India has taken the lead for building capacity in tax and financial crime investigation in the South Asian region in collaboration with the OECD. With inputs from PTI & Reuters
