Nirmala Sitharaman participates in virtual meeting on Global Convergence for Growth Summit

📌 Summary:

• FM Nirmala Sitharaman joined (virtually) the Global Convergence for Growth Summit, presided over by French President Emmanuel Macron
• Participants: top leadership of all G7 nations plus India, Brazil, China, Kenya, South Korea and the IMF
• India argued that consequences of conflicts/uncertainty fall disproportionately on developing countries and the Global South, demanding coordinated global action and stronger multilateral cooperation
• On global imbalances: not all imbalances are alike (they reflect demographics, development stage, resource endowments); focus should be on "excessive and persistent" imbalances, and the burden of adjustment should not fall on peripheral economies like India
• India's growth is domestic-demand led with a largely market-determined exchange rate; GDP growth projected at ~7% over the medium term
• Called for "better, bigger, more effective and more representative" Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to expand financing for developing economies
• Stressed resilient, diversified, geographically distributed supply chains, especially for critical minerals, via circularity, recycling and urban mining

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 IR — global economic governance, reform of MDBs, and Global South diplomacy.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Summit presided over by French President Emmanuel Macron
• Participants: all G7 + India, Brazil, China, Kenya, South Korea, IMF
• India's medium-term GDP growth projected ~7%

🔑 Key Term: Global South — developing and emerging economies of Asia, Africa and Latin America that bear disproportionate spillovers of global shocks.