Tag: presidency

The effects of international conflicts are instantly felt within the nation because of the substantial presence of Indian workers, students, and diaspora in other regions of the world…reports Asian Lite News

India, ever since it took over the rotating presidency of the G20 in December last year, has made persistent efforts to send a message that as a leader in multilateral platforms, it will work to usher in inclusive agenda-setting practices and create transparent processes to act on shared global challenges, Asia Times reported.

Recently, the Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister of India has released an occasional paper on challenges confronting the Group of Twenty (G20) and the need to craft effective policy solutions while taking into account the worries of the Global South or emerging countries. For instance, the paper stressed the importance of providing underdeveloped nations with more help so they may operationalise resilience measures and establish generous technology-sharing standards. Notably, the study urged for more global and bilateral investment for “build back broader” programmes by undertaking integrated infrastructure projects in order to assist the Global South in overcoming post-pandemic economic issues, as per Asia Times.

The Indian government has consistently worked to include a range of viewpoints in G20 discussions ever since it assumed the G20 presidency in December last year. For instance, a “Voice of Global South Summit” was convened in January to solicit input and include the perspectives of developing nations in the G20 agenda.

As of the last month, more than 12,300 participants from more than 110 different countries had already attended G20 meetings. As of now, India has hosted more than 105 sessions for the G20’s engagement groups, ministerial meetings, and Sherpa tracks.

Numerous organisations in India are planning conferences, workshops, seminars, and other activities pertaining to the G20. Diverse societal sectors’ active participation in these events reflects a rise in public interest in world politics.

With the growth of media and social media, even the general populace is beginning to recognise how global events affect them on a daily basis. For instance, it is now more commonly acknowledged that the conflict in Ukraine is responsible for the rise in energy costs, according to Asia Times.

As the Indian service sector becomes more integrated into the global economy, several Indian startups were adversely affected by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in the US. The periodic shortcomings in financial regulation in rich nations and their repercussions for developing ones are hot topics in India.

People are leaving India in greater and greater numbers, both for business and leisure. The overall number of students who will be studying abroad in 2022 will rise by 68 per cent to 750,365.

Growing from strength to strength, the spirit of #G20India soars higher at its midway milestone! 🇮🇳✨

The latest edition of the #G20 Secretariat Newsletter is here!

Learn all about the events lined up for the month and more ⬇️ https://t.co/hvmprDf4Zl pic.twitter.com/7uJ681PIaj

— G20 Brasil (@g20org) May 16, 2023

The effects of international conflicts are instantly felt within the nation because of the substantial presence of Indian workers, students, and diaspora in other regions of the world.

As a result, the G20 agenda and event calendar are a response to the country’s increased interest in international politics. G20 meetings are taking place all throughout India, be it Kerala in the deep south or Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast, Asia Times reported.

India is democratising its foreign participation, which should continue after the G20 Summit in September. State governments, think tanks, educational institutions, trade associations, labour unions, and cultural organisations are just a few of the entities striving to have an impact on India’s international engagement right now.

The G20 summits are being actively utilised by many state governments to highlight the economic potential in their local regions. Similarly, the third G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting will take place in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, from May 22 to 24. (ANI)

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The summit will be attended by over 40 Heads of State, Heads of Government and international organisations…reports Asian Lite News

The G20 outcome under India’s Presidency will be unprecedented, veteran diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said as he underlined that the international community sees India as one country that is up to the challenge of providing solutions to current global problems.

The G20 is the “most significant” international event India has hosted since its independence, Mr Shringla, the Chief Coordinator of India’s G20 Presidency and former Foreign Secretary, said.

He addressed prominent members of the Indian-American and diaspora community on Tuesday at the launch event of his biography ‘Not An Accidental Rise’.

Day 2️⃣ at the #Youth20 pre-summit in #Leh saw discussions on ways to enhance collaboration with stakeholders to contribute towards the development of youth. @lg_ladakh spoke of Y20's push towards empowering the youth. pic.twitter.com/PwpGD0yVzZ

— G20 Brasil (@g20org) April 27, 2023

Former US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster and Consul General of India in New York Randhir Jaiswal were among the special guests at the event hosted by Jaipur Foot USA, a subsidiary of Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS).

India assumed the year-long presidency of the G20 on December 1 last year and is hosting over 200 meetings and related events in cities across the country that will culminate in a global Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi in September.

The summit will be attended by over 40 Heads of State, Heads of Government and international organisations.

A G20 Leaders’ Declaration will be adopted at the conclusion of the New Delhi Summit, stating “Leaders’ commitment towards the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings.” “I have no doubt that the Summit that India will host and the outcome that we will deliver at the time of the G20 will be unprecedented,” Shringla said.

He said the world is currently facing difficult times where the only certainty is uncertainty.

“Many of our partners in the international community feel that if there is one country that is up to the challenge of providing solutions to global situations that have emerged today, it is India,” he said.

India will deliver in entirety to the international community’s expectations, in particular the Global South, of which “we are a part and have been a voice of,” he said.

Shringla also highlighted that about 100 G20 meetings have already been hosted across India with each meeting witnessing rejuvenation of that particular city and region, urban transformation and beautification.

It witnessed involvement at the public and grassroots level of people who have never known what G20 is, but known this is something big for India and are happy to be a part of the effort, he said.

“Bringing G20 to the grassroots level through ‘Jan Bhagidari’ has been a major objective and one that has been achieved quite well,” he said.

Earlier this month, the book ‘Not An Accidental Rise’, written by Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Sikkim University, Gangtok Dr Dipmala Roka was launched in Darjeeling.

Shringla noted that the book is a “well researched” and “candid” account “not just of my career, but my entire life, so far.” Shringla, who was India’s ambassador to the US and later the Foreign Secretary when Juster was Washington’s envoy in New Delhi from 2017–2021, recalled working very closely with his American counterpart on a host of issues, including some challenging situations.

“It was a difficult time. There was shock upon shock. We not only had the Covid-19 crisis, we also had multiple transgressions on our western border from our neighbour China. We had a shock on our western borders that is Afghanistan and “another shock on the eastern border with the situation in Myanmar as well as the Ukraine conflict,” he said.

Juster recalled working closely with Shringla on a range of issues, with the ‘Howdy Modi’ event in 2019 being among the “most notable” when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then US President Donald Trump addressed over 50,000 people from the diaspora community in a stadium in Houston.

Juster added that he and Shringla also cooperated and worked together during the Covid-19 crisis, as well as during the Chinese standoff.

“It has always been a tremendous privilege to work with someone who has represented his own country extremely well and with someone you can discuss issues candidly and you can work together to solve problems in the best interest of both of our countries,” Juster said.

Jaipur Foot USA Chairman Prem Bhandari described Shringla as the “People’s Ambassador” and the “People’s Foreign Secretary”.

Bhandari expressed gratitude for the consistent support Shringla provided to the millions of people of Indian origin in America as well as around the world, particularly during crises such as the Covid pandemic, on issues related to OCI cards and evacuation of Indians from Ukraine in the aftermath of the conflict.

“He is the darling of 40 million NRIs throughout the world,” Bhandari said. Shringla noted that the book also deals with the aspect of people-to-people ties between India and the US.

“The community has been our mainstay and main support. Much of what we have achieved, from the nuclear deal to what we have achieved in the recent past, can be attributed to the wholehearted support from the Indian-American community,” Shringla said.

Shringla also lauded Bhandari’s efforts to help the community, saying he has been a “pillar of support” during difficult times, particularly during the devastating years of the Covid-19 pandemic when Bhandari helped send much-needed ventilators and concentrators to India.

ALSO READ-G20 preparations in full swing as Srinagar

Providing a vision and way forward, Kant outlined the strategies for change as India takes over the leadership of the G20…reports Asian Lite News

G20 Presidency of India aims for inclusive, resilient and sustainable growth, Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa of India said at the Distinguished Public Lecture entitled: ‘India’s Presidency of G20: The Way Forward’ to mark the inauguration of the Jindal Global Centre for G20 Studies at OP Jindal Global University (JGU).

Amitabh Kant dwelt on a wide-ranging overview outlining India’s political and development narratives, key priorities, initiatives to reshape and reconfigure the world and how India is planning to execute the meetings for G20 ahead of the Leaders’ Summit in September 2023. “G20 is important because it comprises of about 85 per cent of the global GDP and about 78 per cent of the global trade, 90 per cent of the patents in the world and nearly two-thirds of the global population. The G20 Presidency moves from one country to another every year and different countries have different perspectives and priorities. It is very important to study, examine and analyse this as G20 is essentially an economic group for development and growth.” 

“This is a period of great upheaval and turbulence across the world. The post-Covid era has seen nearly 200 million people fall below the poverty line. Nearly two decades of work done to alleviate poverty has been eliminated while a third of the world is facing recession. There’s a challenge with almost 75 countries in the world facing a global debt crisis. And on top of all this, there’s a huge challenge of climate action and climate finance. There is a geopolitical crisis in Europe right now with a war going on for over a year and in addition to all this, you’ve seen the financial crisis or the Silicon Valley Bank collapses in the United States of America and the cascading impact that you can have in other parts of the world.”

Providing a vision and way forward, Kant outlined the strategies for change as India takes over the leadership of the G20. “The first and foremost is the political narrative which India puts forward, the second is the priorities to shape the world and thirdly how well do we execute this presidency on ground. It’s important to understand this because in the last few years, India has done a huge amount of digital transformation. India today does about 11 times more payments than what United States and Europe do together. During COVID, we provided 2 billion vaccinations to our citizens, which was all done digitally. A study by the Bank of International Settlements said that (the digital milestones) India has achieved in the last eight years, what would normally have taken 50 years.”

“Regarding our priorities for G20, the world is facing huge recessionary trends across the world. It’s important that we talk about inclusive, sustainable growth, because without growth we will not be able to lift people above the poverty line and growth alone will have a huge impact on the lives of citizens in the global south. India aims to work with the rest of the world to drive inclusive, resilient and sustainable growth,” Kant outlined. “Thirdly, we face the challenge of climate action and climate finance. As India becomes more industrialized, we will become the third biggest polluters in the world. And therefore India must become the first country in the world to industrialize without carbonizing the world.”  (ANI)

ALSO READ-India holds 100th G20 meeting under its presidency

Throughout India’s Presidency, more than 200 meetings in around 60 cities across India are still being planned, making it the widest geographical spread…reports Asian Lite News

India on Monday with its inclusive and action-oriented policy processes at the heart of its agenda celebrated a key milestone of hosting its 100th meeting under its G20 Presidency with the meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) in Varanasi.

The G20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s 20 major developed and developing economies, making it the premier forum for international economic cooperation. With more than 12,300 delegates from over 110 nations, the in-person participation in India’s G20 Presidency is the largest ever hosted by any G20 country so far.

Throughout India’s Presidency, more than 200 meetings in around 60 cities across India are still being planned, making it the widest geographical spread.

India’s G20 presidency inclusive pan-India approach, centred on Jan Bhagidari or citizen’s engagement has so far covered over 41 cities, with around a dozen meetings held in the North Eastern part of the country. The meetings have also been successful in showcasing India’s incredible natural and architectural beauty through excursions, side events and more than 1500 cultural events with around 7000 artists performing.

The meetings include Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) in Varanasi, the second Health Working Group in Goa, the 2nd Digital Economy Working Group in Hyderabad and the Space Economy Leaders’ Precursor Meeting in Shillong which is being held on Monday.

With the first Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting (FMCBG) in Bengaluru on February 24-25, the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM) in New Delhi on March 1-3, and the second FMCBG meeting in Washington on April 12-13, three ministerial meetings have been held till date under India as G20 Chair along with the two Sherpa Meetings in Udaipur from December 4-7 December last year and Kumarakom from March 30 – April 2.

28 Foreign Ministers (from 18 G20 members, 9 guest countries and AU Chai- Comoros) and two Deputy/Vice Foreign Ministers (from Japan and the Republic of Korea) attended the FMM. These Ministerial meetings concluded with substantive outcome documents that fostered consensus on G20’s shared priorities.

These include consensus on setting up of an expert group on MDB reforms and on debt treatment in the 1st FMCBG, and on multilateral reforms, development cooperation, food and energy security, counter-terrorism, new and emerging threats, global skill mapping and disaster risk reduction in the FMM.

Showcasing India’s diversity, traditions and culture also remains an integral part of the visiting delegates’ programme. With Millet-based dishes being incorporated into the menu, a wide range of cultural performances and excursions have been organized.

The impact of India’s G20 Presidency gave a boost for Covid-hit sectors, a surge in demand for operators, guides and drivers in terms of boosting tourism, and also giving a boost to small businesses that brought global buyers at sellers’ doorstops.

India’s ongoing G20 Presidency comprise broad priority areas such as inclusive and resilient growth; progress on SDGs, green development and Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE); technological transformation and public digital infrastructure; reforming multilateral institutions; women-led development; and international peace and harmony.

India during its G20 presidency will host the largest-ever contingent of delegations in the final New Delhi Summit that will take place in September. Taking the baton from Indonesia,

20 weeks
100 Meetings
Participation from more than 110 countries!

India continues to offer distinctive experiences to the representatives across the globe as it successfully hosts 100th #G20 meeting with Meeting of Agriculture Chief Scientists in Varanasi

Watch 🎥@g20org pic.twitter.com/3RliyezDiS

— PIB India (@PIB_India) April 17, 2023

India’s year-long Presidency of the grouping commenced on 1 December 2022, and would continue until 30 November 2023.

Collectively, the G20 accounts for 85 per cent of global GDP, 75 pc of international trade and two-thirds of the world population, making it the premier forum for international economic cooperation.

Over 12,000 delegates from 111 countries participated in 100 meetings

India’s G20 Presidency Chief Coordinator Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Monday said over 12,000 delegates from 111 countries have participated in 100 G20 meetings hosted by India so far.

“We have started our hundredth meeting under our presidency. If you take the approximate number of meetings that we will cover under our presidency as 200, we have reached an approximate halfway mark in terms of the meetings we’re holding,” Shringla said. He said: “Now if you look at the 100 meetings we have held, we have had these meetings in 41 different cities across the length and breadth of our country. It covers 28 states and union territories.”

MoS for Civil Aviation & Road Transport & Highways @Gen_VKSingh inaugurated the #G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) in Varanasi today.

The MACS is the 100th G20 Meeting during India’s G20 Presidency.#G20India@g20org pic.twitter.com/q45SRWgtD0

— PB-SHABD (@PBSHABD) April 17, 2023

The G20 Chief Coordinator said that over 12,000 delegates have participated in these meetings. “And I think that’s a conservative figure and 111 nationalities have been represented in these meetings that we have held under our presidency. So, both in terms of geographical spread in our country, in terms of the participants within the G20, there have been some very good discussions in most of the meetings,” he said.

According to Shringla, India has made good progress on several important issues of priority. “And as we proceed further, I think we will be seeing more of the outcomes of some of these meetings. But what is important is that today, I think we can take satisfaction over the fact that organizationally and in terms of logistics, I think the meetings have proceeded very well,” he said. (ANI)

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