International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday called for cooperation in the Group of 20 major economies amid tensions among members over Russia’s war in Ukraine, while acknowledging it is a “difficult moment.”
Her remarks came as the United States and its allies step up efforts to isolate Russia from the global financial system through sanctions and other punitive measures, raising questions as to whether the G-20, in which Russia is a member, can continue to function as a forum for international economic policy coordination.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. (Getty/Kyodo)
“It is a difficult moment. There are clearly very, very unsettling facts we have to deal with,” the IMF managing director told a press conference just ahead of a meeting of the G-20 finance chiefs in Washington.
“But we also recognize how interdependent we are,” she added. Citing the abundance of questions that “no country can solve on its own,” she said, “It is so obvious that cooperation must and will continue.”
The gathering has gained attention as the first G-20 ministerial talks to be held since Russia began its invasion on Feb. 24. The G-20 members include the Group of Seven — Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union — as well as emerging economies such as China, India and Saudi Arabia.
U.S. President Joe Biden said in March that Russia should be removed from the G-20 in the wake of the invasion. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was expected to attend only part of the meeting on Wednesday, apparently to minimize contact with Russian officials.
A senior Treasury Department official said earlier that Yellen would not skip the whole meeting because the United States did not want Russia’s presence “to stop the work that the United States and our partners need to do in the context of the G-20.”
