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)