Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of
20 countries will end their annual meeting Sunday with agreements
on global economic development.
Participants exchanged views on the "problem of aging and
immigration" and "conceptual innovation of development" on the
second day. The meeting is to end at noon Sunday after a joint
communique is released.
Established in 1999, the G-20 Group includes major industrial
nations and emerging market countries that account for over 90
percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) and 80 percent
of global trade.
Besides the G20 meeting, the focal point will be promptly
shifted to the Sino-US Joint Economic Commission which will hold
the 17th meeting Sunday afternoon.
Chinese Finance Minister Jin
Renqing and Central Bank Governor Zhou
Xiaochuan will attend the meeting along with US Treasury
Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan.
Senior officials from China's regulators on securities, banking,
insurance and foreign exchange, commerce ministry and other
departments will be present at the meeting.
Chris Cox, the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange
Commission and Reuben Jeffery III, chairman of the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission will also attend the meeting.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said earlier that
the Chinese and US officials are expected to discuss a series of
issues at the meeting, including the RMB exchange rate.
The exchange rate of RMB, China's currency, remains a hot
topic.
Some developed countries, typically the United States, contend
that the Yuan was undervalued by as much as 40 percent, giving
Chinese exporters an "unfair" advantage. They contend that the
recent 2 percent rise in the Yuan's value is too
small.?????
However, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao has reiterated that the reform of the RMB exchange rate
mechanism should be "a gradual process."
In a meeting with International Monetary Fund Managing Director
Rodrigo de Rato, Wen said that to gradually establish a managed,
floating exchange rate system based on market supply and demand and
to keep the yuan basically stable at a reasonable and balanced
level is the "unalterable direction" and goal of China's exchange
rate reform.
Finance Minister Jin put it in a more direct way, saying that
the yuan appreciation would not remove economic imbalances of the
world, especially of certain nations, and that China will not
follow the "orders" of others to conduct the exchange rate
reform.
Established in 1979, the JEC has served as a regular forum for
Chinese and US officials to get together and discuss economic
issues.
(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2005)