First time India will be setting the agenda of G20 presidency: Indian Sherpa Amitabh Kant

On the eve of a maiden four-day meeting of the G20 Development Working Group in Mumbai, India’s Sherpa Mr Amitabh Kant on Monday said that this is for the first time that India which is a developing country and an emerging superpower, will set an agenda of G20 Presidency. India officially assumed the G20 presidency on December 1. ‘’India can transform and become the global leader, exporter, producer of an electrolyzer and global champion of green hydrogen, but for that, multilateral institutions must also finance our entrepreneurs; many of those issues will be discussed at G20.

This is a huge opportunity to create a win-win collaboration between developing countries, the global south and advancing countries. While we shape an inclusive future, we are also sharing India’s experiences,‘’ he said. ‘’First time India will be setting the agenda of the G20 Presidency.

We have done a lot of developmental work, opened ~40 crore new bank accounts since 2015, 4,800 crore transactions in digital payments, distributed 36. 7 crore LED bulbs, ~ 3 crore affordable houses,’’ said Mr Kant. On the eve of a maiden four day meeting of the G20 Development Working Group in Mumbai, the India’s Sherpa Mr Amitabh Kant on Monday said that this is for the first time that India which is a developing country and an emerging super power, will set an agenda of G20 Presidency.

| FPJ Mr Kant said at a time when the world is facing recession, India is a silver spot and it can play a major role in deciding a policy to transform the present scenario. | FPJ Mr Kant said at a time when the world is facing recession, India is a silver spot and it can play a major role in deciding a policy to transform the present scenario. Besides, India along with other G20 countries can play a major role in making the multilateral financial institutions change their lending norms so that climate financing will become easy.

‘’Basic challenge is that many of the multilateral institutions do direct lending, they don’t do lending based on first-loss guarantee or credit enhancement or blended finance; US Treasury Secretary has said that these institutions should be restructured,’’ he added. ‘’G20 is a whole-of-government approach, comprising Finance Track, Sherpa Track, Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and Empowered Initiatives. About 215 meetings in 56 cities of India are being held, in every state and Union Territory.

For the first time, India has created a new group in G20 called Startup 20, since India today has more than 80,000 startups, we are giving a big thrust to startups,’’ he said. ‘’This is a huge opportunity to create a win-win collaboration between developing countries, the global south and advancing countries. While we shape an inclusive future, we are also sharing India’s experiences,’’ he noted.

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