INDIA. Mumbai: The first meeting of the Development Working Group (DWG) under India’s G20 Presidency is being held at Hotel Grand Hyatt in Santa Cruz East in North West Mumbai from December 13 to December 16.
India assumed the G20 presidency on December 1 from Indonesia. India has assumed the G20 presidency amid challenges, including scarring from the COVID-19 pandemic, rising food and energy security concerns, and inflationary pressures, among others. A key role of the G20 is to guide in dealing with such challenges. The G20 Leaders’ Summit will be held in New Delhi in September 2023.
The DWG aims to discuss developmental issues in developing, least developed, and island countries. It is a platform for G20 member countries to unite and prioritize multilateralism, share solutions that promote growth, remap development plans and achieve the Sustainable Development Goal’s (SDG) targets. The meeting will be attended by G20 Members, guest countries, and invited international organizations in person.
On December 13, the Indian Presidency will hold two side events – “Data for Development: Role of G20 in advancing the 2030 Agenda” and “Infusing new LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) into Green Development” – before the official meeting of the Working Group, according to the official statement of Union Ministry of External Affairs. A welcome dinner will follow the side event for the delegates at the Taj Mahal Palace in South Mumbai.
The Development working meeting will be held on December 14 and December 15, with a focus on India’s key priorities relating to accelerating progress on the SDGs, lifestyle for the environment, and data for development.
India’s G20 Presidency lies at a crucial midpoint of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, adopted in 2015. A review of SDG progress and G20’s efforts to achieve the SDG targets will be discussed at the DWG meeting.
In the context of Green Development, focus areas would include climate finance and technology, as well as just energy transitions for developing countries.
Understanding that the issue of climate change cuts across industry, society, and sectors, the concept of LiFE, a behavior-based movement that draws from our country’s rich, ancient and sustainable traditions, to nudge consumers and, in turn, markets to adopt environmentally-conscious practices, would be deliberated upon in the meeting, the official statement read.
LiFE ties closely with India’s G20 motto, “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” and the theme, “One Earth, One Family, One Future.” With a human-centric approach to technology, tech-enabled development in sectors ranging from agriculture to education will also be discussed. Besides, women’s empowerment would be highlighted.
The release added the official DWG meeting would be followed by an excursion by the delegates to Kanheri caves, near Mumbai, on December 16, 2022.
Bengaluru meet
Apart from the one in Mumbai, the first G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies (FCBD) meeting, jointly hosted by the Union Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is being held between December 13 and December 15 in Bengaluru Karnataka. In the meeting, discussions will focus on the Finance Track (FT) agenda.
This FT includes reorienting international financial institutions to meet the shared global challenges, managing global debt vulnerabilities, and productivity gains. Approximately 40 meetings of the FT will be held in several locations in India, including meetings of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.
The members of the G20 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S., as well as the European Union, represented by the rotating council presidency and the European Central Bank.
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