CIS ministers to draft concept for reforming global financial system

The meeting of Finance Ministers of the CIS countries could become a platform for developing agreed common positions in the framework of reforming the global financial system that today is on the agenda of G20.

The sixth meeting of the Council of CIS Finance Ministers will held in Astana on Wednesday during the Astana Economic Forum.

"This is a common format for interaction between the finance ministers of the CIS countries, mainly to create a platform to exchange experiences, discuss any issues that may be of interest to countries in the meeting, as well as taking into account the processes that are underway at the G20," Azerbaijani Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov told Trend in Astana.

"This is a reform of the international financial system that is being discussed by G20 countries, and exchanging views on the subject and it's possible to come up with agreed common positions and therefore there are some suggestions."

In June, the resort town of Los Cabos in north-west Mexico will host a G20 summit. The priority tasks for today are the early resolution of the crisis in Europe and strengthening the international financial system to boost the world economy and therefore the mechanisms aimed at achieving global financial stability and the possible implementation of structural reforms to ensure sustained economic development in the world are being discussed.

At today's meeting finance ministers of the CIS countries will discuss financial and economic situation in the CIS countries, the existing differences in regulatory regimes in the area of ??banking supervision in these states and their rapprochement, risks to the CIS member states and the chairmanship of the Russian Ministry of Finance in the process of interaction of the ministers of finance.

The agenda of the discussions also included an action plan to implement the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Ministries of Finance of the CIS member states, the rules of the permanent conference of finance ministers and the outcome of the first meeting of a regional advisory group of the CIS group in a financial stability council.

"Such meetings help to develop common approaches, to coordinate positions and exchange experiences. Representatives of the Ministry of Finance of Belarus came to Azerbaijan and also bilateral contacts during these meetings exist," Sharifov said.

Today Azerbaijan has the best experience of the CIS countries in transition to international accounting standards and to share these experiences Baku will host a meeting with representatives of the Commonwealth. "Every country has its own strengths, so you need to learn and share experiences," Sharifov said.

The chairman of the Coordinating Finance and Banking Council of CIS, Anatoly Kazakov, told Trend that one of issues of the permanent conference of finance ministers is to increase the volume of payments in national currencies in the CIS. He said this issue is being discussed in the framework of the Astana Economic Forum.

"The CIS countries have adopted the concept of currency regulation where this issue is given priority. Calculations in the national currency are growing, both in roubles with the CIS countries and in particular, with Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and within the common customs space. If an earlier share of calculations in roubles with Ukraine and other countries CIS was in the range of 10-20 per cent, now it has grown to 50 per cent," Kazakov said.


/Trend/