Egypt’s finance minister heads off China for G20 talks

Egypt’s Minister of Finance Amr El-Garhy has headed Friday to China for talks with finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations, which will kick off Saturday.

Later on September 4 and 5, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is jetting off to China for the G20 talks with world leaders.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nation are huddling in China’s southwestern city of Chengdu on Saturday to discuss how to confront global challenges exacerbated by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

This G20 meeting is the first of its kind since the Brexit vote and a debut for Britain’s new finance minister, Philip Hammond, who faced questions about how quickly the UK planned to move ahead with formal negotiations to leave the EU. Many countries are worried that a long delay could add to uncertainties that are dragging on the world economy.

The Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers will put the spotlight on Hammond, who makes his international debut at the gathering and will need to answer questions about how London will manage its exit from the European Union.

This is the third and final G20 finance ministers meeting China will host this year ahead of a leaders summit in China’s Hangzhou city next September, which will receive recommendations from the participant finance ministers, El-Garhy stated.

On the sidelines of the finance ministers meeting, El-Garhy will take part in a high-level forum on international taxation. Participants in the forum will discuss tax systems, fighting tax evasion, and shutting down the loopholes that facilitate tax avoidance.

Since China took over the G20 presidency earlier in 2016, Egypt has participated in several G20 meetings such as deputy finance and central bank deputies meeting and development work group meeting.