India will share its human-centric SDG story, show progress in tech: Amitabh Kant

“When India takes over the Presidency, this is for the first time that we will be setting the agenda. So far, the agenda was being set by the developed world and we were responding to that agenda. We were giving the comments to them,” Kant told reporters.

The DWG is a platform for G-20 member countries to come together and prioritise multilateralism, share solutions that promote growth, remap development plans and achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets.

The group has been acting as the custodian of G20 ‘development agenda’ since its inception in 2010. The DWG meetings aims to discuss developmental issues in developing countries (DC), least developed countries (LD) and island countries (small island developing states/SIDS). Kant said India will be setting the G20 agenda at a time when it has done a lot of developmental work. “We have opened about 40 crore new bank accounts since 2015, equivalent to the entire population of the USA. In digital payments we have done about 4,860 crore transactions, which is 3X of China and 7X greater than the combined digital payments of the US, Canada, UK, France and Germany,” he said.

During these four-day meetings, Kant said, India will share its human centric SDG story. The country will utilise the power of digital technology and data to showcase the progress it has made in the field of digital technology, he said, adding there will be discussions on LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), a behaviour-based movement that draws from India’s ancient and sustainable traditions, to nudge consumers, and in-turn markets, to adopt environmentally-conscious practices.

“Our objective is to be the voice of the Global South and we will try and galvanise consensus for a green development pact which we will work on,” Kant said.

He further said that despite the challenging scenario, India has emerged as the global hotspot. It is the fastest growing large economy with sound macroeconomic fundamentals. “We have strong public finances and strong manufacturing and export growth. We are the top FDI (foreign direct investment) destination. We are the leader in climate change. Our bold and ambitious reforms are driving our economic development. We are poised to become a high-income country by 2047,” he said.

India holds the G20 Presidency of the G20 till November 30, 2023. The theme of India’s G20 Presidency is ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ – ‘One Earth One Family One Future’. It will host over 200 meetings in over 50 cities across 32 different workstreams. The first meeting of the Sherpa track was held in Udaipur last week. The G20 consists of two parallel tracks: the Finance track and the Sherpa track. Finance ministers and central bank governors lead the Finance track, while Sherpas lead the Sherpa track.

The G20 comprises 19 countries — Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the US, UK, and the European Union. The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.