New Delhi: The G20 Development Ministers’ Meeting, set for June 11–13 in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, would be presided over by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as part of India’s G20 presidency. The Ministry of External Affairs has informed us that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver a special video message as part of India’s G20 Presidency.
The Varanasi Development Ministers’ Meeting is taking place at a critical juncture, with mounting developmental challenges exacerbated by the global economic slowdown, debt distress, climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, rising poverty and inequality, the affordability crisis, disruptions in global supply chains, and geopolitical tensions and conflicts.
The G20 Development Ministerial Meeting presents an opportunity for collective agreement on actions to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and foster synergies between development, environment, and climate agendas. The aim is to avoid costly trade-offs that hinder progress in developing countries, as emphasised by the Ministry of External Affairs in its official statement.
The decisions made at the Varanasi meeting will also have an impact on the United Nations SDG Summit, which will be held in New York in September. Further, according to the official release, the meeting will consist of two main sessions — one on ‘Multilateralism: Collective Actions for Accelerating Progress towards SDGs’ and another on ‘Green Development: A LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) Approach’.
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