The level of engagement in person during India's G20 presidency is among the highest ever. So far, nearly 12,300 participants from over 110 countries have attended G20-related sessions. This includes G20 members, 9 invited countries, and 14 international organizations. As of today, the 100 G20 meetings have taken place in 41 places throughout 28 states and union territories.
Meetings are being held across India, with the full backing and participation of state governments and union territories. During our Presidency, India will host over 200 G20-related meetings in over 60 places across the country, the biggest geographical distribution of any G20 Presidency. Substantive interactions have begun for all 13 Sherpa Track Working Groups, 8 Finance Track Workstreams, 11 Engagement Groups, and 4 Initiatives.
During our G20 presidency, we established a new Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), a new Engagement Group "Startup 20," and a new Initiative Chief Science Advisers' Roundtable (CSAR). The 11 Engagement Groups serve as a forum for conversation between the commercial sector, academia, civil society, youth, and women, as well as institutions such as parliaments, audit agencies, and city governments.
Three Ministerial meetings have already taken place. The first Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting (FMCBG) was held in Bengaluru on February 24-25, 2023, followed by the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM) in New Delhi on March 1-2, 2023, and the second FMCBG meeting in Washington DC on April 12-13, 2023. Udaipur (4-7 December 2022) and Kumarakom (30 March - 2 April 2023) have hosted two Sherpa Meetings.
All delegations including Ministerial-level dignitaries attended the FMCBG, FMM, and Sherpa meetings in record numbers. The FMM was attended by 28 Foreign Ministers (from 18 G20 members, 9 guest countries, and the AU Chair - Comoros) and 2 Deputy/Vice Foreign Ministers (from Japan and the Republic of Korea). According to an MEA statement, these Ministerial sessions finished with substantive outcome documents that encouraged consensus on the G20's common aims.
These include an agreement in the first FMCBG on the formation of an expert group on MDB reforms and debt treatment, as well as in the FMM on multilateral reforms, development cooperation, food and energy security, counter-terrorism, new and emerging threats, global skill mapping, and catastrophe risk reduction.
According to the MEA statement, India is also elevating the voice and concerns of the Global South and poor countries during its Presidency. The Prime Minister presided over the Voice of the Global South Summit in January 2023, which was attended by 125 countries, including 18 at the Heads of State/Government level and others at the Ministerial level. Furthermore, during India's current Presidency, participation from Africa is at an all-time high, with South Africa (G20 Member), Mauritius, Egypt, Nigeria, and others taking part.
As per the statement by MEA, substantive discussions during India's current G20 Presidency include broad priority areas such as inclusive and resilient growth, progress on SDGs, green development, Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), technological transformation, and public digital infrastructure, reforming multilateral institutions, women-led development, and international peace and harmony.
Over 150 cultural events exhibiting local and national art forms have been held, with over 7,000 artists participating. Many Jan Bhagidari activities are also being held concurrently with active public engagement in a whole-of-nation and whole-of-society approach, transforming India's G20 Presidency into a "People's G20." These include the G20 University Connect lecture series, Model G20 meetings, Special G20 sessions in schools and universities, G20 Pavilions at key festivals, quiz contests, and selfie contests.
