India's G20 presidency has been a monumental step in cementing its status as an emerging superpower on the global stage. Ahead of G20 Summit 2023, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, in an interaction with Business Today magazine, shared insights on the progress made in talks during India’s presidency and the major achievements.
Talking about the opportunities presented by India’s G20 Presidency, Amitabh Kant said, “This is an incredible chance to showcase India as an attractive investment and tourism destination." He emphasised that the ongoing transformation of city infrastructure will "facilitate both ease of doing business and enhance quality of life in the near future”.
India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant highlighted the vast potential of the global tourism industry, valued at $5 trillion, where India currently holds a modest 1.5% share. He also pointed out the global MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions) market's value at $650 billion, with India having a relatively small portion. "The G20 presidency presents a valuable opportunity to capture a larger share of these markets," Kant remarked. He cited the state government's initiative in Kerala, where they built a meeting venue in Kumarakom before the Second G20 Sherpas Meeting, as a significant investment in MICE infrastructure.
Amitabh Kant spoke about the G20 presidency's role in showcasing India's rich cultural heritage. Highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for the same, Kant said, "The credit for this lies completely with our PM. It was his vision to adopt a whole-of-India approach and move beyond the usual metropolitan cities as meeting venues.”
Discussing the G20's focus areas for 2023, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant elaborated on the priorities, including green development, climate finance, SDGs, technological transformation, and women-led development. He said, "Our presidency’s goal of bringing the G20 together as a problem-solver for cascading and interlinked crises for a resilient, sustainable, and inclusive world are rooted in adopting a cross-cutting approach.”
Amitabh Kant touched upon India's focus on cryptocurrency regulations and the G20's efforts on debt management for vulnerable economies. "Regulation of stable crypto assets is an outcome of the Finance Track," he noted. Kant also mentioned India's role in helping Sri Lanka through its extended line of credit, which assisted them in securing the IMF bailout.
Amitabh Kant was particularly vocal about India's achievements in green development and climate finance. He mentioned, "On green development, elements such as the principles of LiFE were adopted by the Development Ministerial." He also highlighted India's commitment to scale up global climate finance and set a new goal for 2024.
The climate crisis, Kant shared, is a priority for the G20. He revealed the formation of the Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group and said, "Floods in north India are devastating news for all of us, and we hope our DRR working group’s outcomes related to early warning systems are discussed in the G20 meetings."
On the technological front, Amitabh Kant shared the positive outcomes of the Global Digital Public Infrastructure Repository and the Global Initiative on Digital Health. He also emphasised India's strong stance on gender equality, stating, "The empowerment of women and girls has been a key priority for our presidency and has also been hailed very positively by all members of the G20."
Amitabh Kant shared significant achievements of India's presidency including the push for the inclusion of the African Union as a permanent member of the G20. “Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi is at the forefront of ensuring that the concerns of the Global South are well represented under India’s presidency. The inclusion of the African Union will be a phenomenal step in this direction and it has already received an overwhelming response from many G20 countries,” said Kant.
Innovative millet recipes will be served to world leaders and delegates attending the G20 Summit at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi while millet dishes have also been served at G20 meetings across the nation. Amitabh Kant said, “It was PM Modi’s vision to introduce millets to global palates and this has received a phenomenal response. The presidency also coincides with the International Year of Millets and this has helped us highlight the value addition of these supergrains even more.”
Reflecting on the progress made since Indonesia's presidency, Amitabh Kant said, "Over the past year, we have been engaged in ensuring that the G20 is committed to the 1.5°C pathway while meeting the climate finance goal." He also spoke about the need for leveraging private capital to meet climate and SDG goals in developing countries.