India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant is burning midnight oil for the grand success of the upcoming summit of the Group. In this regard, he is constantly monitoring the preparation, and holding meetings with the concerned Secretaries and other stakeholders. They have been given specific assignments so that this international event is highly successful under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The G20 brings together the world’s developed and developing economies, accounting for 85 percent of the global GDP, 75 percent of international trade and two-thirds of the world’s population, making it an influential forum for international economic cooperation. As the G20 President, India will set the agenda for the year, identify the themes and focus areas, conduct discussions and work out outcome documents.
A G20 Secretariat has been established to handle work relating to preparation and management of substantive knowledge content in addition to dealing with technical, media, security and logistical aspects of India’s G20 presidency. It is manned by officers and staff from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and other relevant ministries or departments and domain knowledge experts. The Secretariat will be functional till February 2024.
The G20 Secretariat is being guided by an Apex Committee headed by the Prime Minister, and comprising Ministers of Finance, Home and External Affairs, besides the G20 Sherpa, to provide overall guidance to India’s G20 presidency. Further, a Coordination Committee has been set up to oversee all G20 preparations and report to the Apex Committee.
A highly placed source at the PMO told Blitz India that Kant’s office is updating the PM on a daily basis about the ongoing arrangements and progress made so far. Kant is monitoring updates on a regular basis and is taking all initiatives. He is well aware of the PM’s ideas expressed in the Governing Council meeting of the Niti Aayog held on August 7.
The PM had said that a dedicated team for G20 in each of the states should be formed to derive the maximum possible benefit from this initiative. He emphasised that each state should focus on promoting its 3Ts – trade, tourism and technology – through every Indian mission around the world. As per the PM’s vision of the upcoming Indian presidency, all concerned departments are gearing up to make the event a landmark.
The recently-held meeting between G20 Sherpa and the Union Secretaries finalised the broad structure for the period of the presidency. During the meeting Secretaries from Economic Affairs, DoPT, Agriculture, Culture, Electronics and IT, NDMA, Labour, Environment, Higher Education, Power, Health, Commerce, Tourism, Women and Child Development, DPIIT, Science & Technology, Space, Housing & Urban Affairs, and Youth Affairs, updated the G20 Secretariat about the timelines, logistics and the progress made so far.
The G20’s year-round requirements are intense, subtle and sophisticated. It is estimated to organise over 170 highlevel ministerial, sub-ministerial and subforum meetings through the year; and at least 50 task forces, including those of the sub-forums, such as those for think-tanks or businesses. Then there are content management, negotiation and feedback processes, and those for developing and executing the year-long agenda to culmination.
India’s G20 year, 2023, will conclude with a Leaders’ Summit, which will be just a few months before the Lok Sabha election of 2024.
