World pushing India for ambitious G20 agenda: Kant

Synopsis One of the focus areas that India has identified is digital public infrastructure, which is about being open source, interoperable with a public interest layer and providing private sector innovation. There should be a small fund and hardware infrastructure for this infrastructure can come from developmental financial institutions, Amitabh Kant, the country’s sherpa, said in an interview. India will put out an ambitious agenda and is hopeful of a positive outcome during its presidency.

India is pushing for a global framework on governance in digital public infrastructure and setting up of a fund to support creation of such infrastructure during its G20 presidency, said the country’s sherpa Amitabh Kant . In an interview to ET’s Deepshikha Sikarwar in Kumarakom, Kerala, which hosted the just concluded second sherpa meeting, he said India will put out an ambitious agenda and is hopeful of a positive outcome during its presidency. Edited excerpts: Two sherpa meetings have concluded.

What is your assessment of the progress on the agenda put forth by India? We are very positive, very optimistic. Every country wants an ambitious action plan. There is realisation of the turbulence and upheaval that the world economy is facing.

So all want India to put up a plan that will push for resilient and inclusive growth and accelerate the pace of sustainable development goals, action on climate and one that will help digitally transform the world. “DPIs are about being open source, open APIs, interoperable with a public interest layer. On the top of it is private sector innovation.

Our objective would be to evangelise this as much as possible” — Amitabh Kant All of them want an action plan in which women-led development is a major story. We will work this out. And by the time of the Hampi meeting (next sherpa meeting), we’ll try to put out a draft communique.

That can become the source of discussion among G20 member countries and can be the first draft to take forward. But I can assure you that we will live up to what the Prime Minister ( Narendra Modi ) has said and that is what the world needs – that it should be inclusive, it should be decisive, it should be ambitious and it should be action-oriented. Are other members ready for an ambitious outcome? Actually, in the just concluded meeting all of the developed world and all the emerging countries said India should put up an ambitious action plan.

Actually, it’s the world and the G20 which is telling us to be more and more ambitious. So, we will come with an ambitious plan. The two ministerial meetings brought to the fore differences over Russia-Ukraine conflict within the grouping about para 3 and 4 of the Bali declaration and a communique could not be issued.

After the second sherpa meeting, what is the sense? There is agreement on all issues about development, finance and growth. There’s an agreement on 99% of the issues. The issue is para 3 and 4, which was agreed to in Bali.

We are very positive and confident that we’ll get everybody around. So, can we expect a declaration at the summit in September? We will do our best. We have different strategies.

We are talking to everybody. We are confident that the backwaters of Kerala provided peace and serenity in an informal manner. Everybody spoke their mind and we are very hopeful that we will (be able to come out with a declaration).

Digital public infrastructure (DPI) is one of the focus areas that India has identified. What are the deliverables that we are looking at? DPI is important because four billion people in the world do not have an identity, two billion people do not have a bank account and 133 countries do not have a fast payment mechanism. If you want to make a difference in the lives of citizens across the world, these are very important.

DPIs are about being open source, being open APIs, being interoperable with a public interest layer. On the top of it is private sector innovation. Our objective would be to evangelise this as much as possible.

We are looking to work together with the global community. There’s a governance vacuum. Everybody accepts this and that is under discussion.

There should be a small fund. We should take this forward to the rest of the world. Hardware infrastructure that is required can come in from the developmental financial institutions.

We are still debating and discussing the broad contours, but this is how we envisage that during our presidency we should try and evangelise and we can have some kind of a governance structure in place. Are there any concerns about India pushing its own structure? No. Everything is adaptable to the country.

We are very clear in our mind that everything needs to be adapted to the countries’ requirements. Don’t miss out on ET Prime stories! Get your daily dose of business updates on WhatsApp. click here! ( Originally published on Apr 02, 2023 ) Sunday, 02 Apr, 2023 Experience Your Economic Times Newspaper, The Digital Way! Read Complete Print Edition » Front page Pure Politics Bottom Line Deep Dive More GST Collections in March Jump 13% to ₹1.

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9 million units in the last fiscal year ended Friday, as improved component supplies helped automakers step up production to meet strong demand and clear order backlog. Read More News on amitabh kant narendra modi g20 g20 india ukraine (Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times . ) Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

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