WASHINGTON, May 2: The positions taken by European nations on Ukraine and Muslim countries on Gaza prevented the International Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC) from adopting a joint communique during ministerial meetings in April, IMF Executive Director for Russia Aleksei Mozhin told Sputnik.
Washington hosted the spring ministerial meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank last month.
“The participants failed to reach an agreement for the fifth time in a row,” Mozhin said. “Previously, Spain chaired the committee for two years and four meetings. The West insisted on a political preamble, which included insults and accusations against Russia, which we refused to sign.”
This year, Saudi Arabia presided over the IMFC for the first time and did a very good job in trying to work out a joint communique, Mozhin said.
As a result, Russia agreed to the proposed document, taking into account the enormous efforts made by the Saudi chairmanship, Mozhin added.
However, two IMFC member states – one representing a group of small European countries and the other leading a group of large Muslim nations – rejected the text.
“Those Europeans wanted to directly condemn Russia, while Muslim countries were not satisfied with the expression ‘humanitarian crisis’ that would not mention Israel. These participants prevented the communique from being adopted,” Mozhin said. (UNI)
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