MADRID, April 11 (Reuters) – Europe cannot ignore
China’s role as a key trading partner and important geopolitical
player that could help put an end to the war in Ukraine, or
provide debt relief for low-income countries, Spanish Economy
Minister Nadia Calvino said on Tuesday.
“I think we cannot just turn our back to China and try to
ignore it,” Calvino told an Atlantic Council event in
Washington, D.C.
“We have a shared interest, I think, in ensuring that they
engage constructively to put an end to the war in Ukraine as
soon as possible and to avoid global market fragmentation, which
is going to be lose-lose for everyone.”
Calvino, who chairs the IMFC committee advising to the
International Monetary Fund board, made the remarks on the
sidelines of the IMF spring meeting, after French President
Emmanuel Macron said Europe should take the time to build its
position as a third pole between China and the United States.
As finance ministers from around the world discuss steps to
speed up debt relief for developing countries during this week’s
meetings of the World Bank and the IMF in Washington, Calvino
also called for China’s greater involvement in the process.
“We need to use the time to reinforce our common safety net
protecting most vulnerable countries … and here again we
cannot just ignore China. They are a very important creditor and
they play an important role in these discussions and I hope they
do engage constructively.”
Top officials from China will make their first in-person
attendance at the Washington meetings in three years.
A record number of developing nations are at risk of a debt
crisis, with ballooning inflation, escalating borrowing costs
and a strong dollar jacking up their debt-servicing costs.
Sri Lanka, Zambia and Ghana have already defaulted on their
overseas debt and are in renegotiation talks with creditors,
including Chinese lenders such as China Export-Import Bank.
Calvino said she hoped to deliver good news on debt relief
to these countries later this year.
The Group of 20 (G20) common framework set up to help
low-income countries has failed to deliver quick relief, in part
due to Beijing’s slow movement on specific debt treatment cases,
according to Western officials.
(Reporting by David Latona and Belen Carreno; Editing by Andrei
Khalip and David Holmes)
