COVID 19 pandemic, 2008 financial crisis, the Iranian nuclear program, the Syrian civil war - the next crisis that the G20 is looking to solve for in its 2023 agenda is linked to all these and their combined impact on the world and its future – how a philosophy of inclusion is the only way forward for the survival of mankind.
India’s G20 motto for 2023 “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” and theme One Earth, One Family, One Future” both conceptualize a human centric approach to
technology and tech-enabled development across various sectors ranging from core sectors such as Agriculture, Water, Sanitation and Energy to Education, Livelihoods and Financial Inclusion.
To have a future, society needs to survive and thrive and to do that it requires good health and a sound mind. For “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” to be truly
effective, it is now officially recognized that the need for clean environment with proper Water, Sanitation and Hygiene facilities is vital in all societies for them to flourish, grow and add value to the global economy.
If one has to look for positivity in chaos, then the previous crises, all on account of a parochial approach being taken to solve for individual problems, seem to have triggered, in hindsight, a sense of positive restraint in the global community. My growth is as good as the growth of my neighbors. Hopefully this good sense will help the global community going forward to focus most of its energies not only in saving the planet, but more importantly in helping save humanity as it exists today.
The good news is that a significant change in rhetoric as well as in action, as perceived by all segments of society, both commercial as well as financial, is that growth has to be rounded, and that commercial benefit cannot be achieved at the risk of creating a negative impact by putting at risk the wellbeing of the global community at large.
The G20, which comprises of 19 countries, represents approx. 85% of the global GDP, over 75% of global trade and about 2/3rds of world’s population. If
the rhetoric this time round is not sustainable and is also not of benefit to all, then the world may well find it difficult to provide for the 8 billion plus global community.
A note of caution, however! While the G20’s objective is to prioritise multilateralism by sharing solutions that promote growth besides achieving
what the world stated were its 2030 SDG objectives, with less than 7 years left to go, the task seems extremely daunting if not downright impossible.
The 2022 key G20 agreements included among other things, a roadmap for stronger recovery and resilience in developed countries, least developed
countries and small island developing states; scaling up blended finance in developed countries and a multilateral approach to support the SDGs of all
member nations. Challenging objectives given the current state of the global economy and for India in particular!
The G20 2023 currently being held in India has seen the country set its global priorities as under (*). The series of meetings that started in December last year will end in September this year with a final Summit session in New Delhi. In between several meetings will be held to discuss progress and challenges on the areas mentioned hereunder with plans being set on how to overcome the latter.
Accelerating Progress on SDGs
India'++s G20 Presidency collides with the crucial midpoint of the 2030 Agenda. While India acknowledges the detrimental impact of COVID-19, which changed
the current decade of action into a decade of recovery, it wants to focus on recommitting G20'++s efforts to achieving the targets laid out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The simple theme of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or One Earth, One Family, One Future” brings together the global and domestic agendas of all countries as striving to ensure together that no one gets left behind. The problems the world is facing on account of Climate Change or Covid affect us all and we need solutions that are global for them to be sustainable.
The decisions taken at the G20 meetings across this coming year will spell out the will and desire of countries to jointly help resolve these problems.
Green Development, Climate Finance &LiFE
The opportunity to lead G20 comes at a time of compounding existential threat, with the COVID-19 pandemic having exposed the fragilities of our systems under the cascading impacts of climate change. In this regard, climate change is a key priority for India’s Presidency, with a particular focus towards
not only climate finance and technology, but also ensuring just energy transitions for developing nations across the world. Strengthening our
commitments to core sectors such as Water, Sanitation and Hygiene through campaigns such as Swachh Bharat underlines our determination to create a
healthy world for our citizens.
To help the global community to thrive and survive and understand that the issue of climate change cuts across industry, society, and sectors, India offers the world LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment)—a behaviour-based movement that draws from our nation'++s rich, ancient sustainable traditions to nudge consumers, and in-turn markets, to adopt environmentally-conscious practices. This ties closely with India’s G20 theme: "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" or ,One Earth. One Family. One Future.
The Environment and Climate Sustainability Meetings to be held in Chennai in July should see outcomes being set for all nations to follow.
Accelerated, Inclusive & Resilient Growth
Accelerated, resilient and inclusive growth is a cornerstone for sustainable development. During its G20 Presidency, India aims to focus on areas that have the potential to bring structural transformation. This includes an ambition to accelerate the integration of MSMEs in global trade, bring in the spirit of trade for growth, promote labour rights and secure labour welfare, address the global skills gap, and build inclusive agricultural value chains, food systems, etc. And the world has come a full circle in realising and accepting the limitations of global companies and the importance of MSMEs to the overall fabric of global economic growth. When implementing the SDGs, the importance of domestic growth was highlighted and brought to the forefront with local solutions using indigenous skills to solve basic problems. Building eco-friendly, low-cost toilets using local materials was one of the many successes of the Swatch Bharat program which has allowed most Indians to own their individual household toilets.
The Meeting in June in Bali, on Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion and the various Trade, Investments and Finance meetings to be held across India from June till the run up of the final meeting in September will be looking to address the main challenge being faced by all countries on how to make their GDP growth positive and sustainable in the long term.
Technological Transformation & Digital Public Infrastructure
As G20 Presidency, India can foreground its belief in a human-centric approach to technology, and facilitate greater knowledge-sharing in priority areas like digital public infrastructure, financial inclusion, and tech-enabled development in sectors ranging from agriculture to education and especially in water, sanitation and hygiene. The make-in-India clarion call is relevant not only for large companies. MSMEs have taken this message seriously too, which is evident from the fact that a number of start-ups are now looking to create
indigenous and innovative solutions to address the problems in the core sectors.
The Digital Economy Meeting is to be held in Bengaluru in August and one hopes will enforce the messages of tech enabled development while addressing the challenges faced in domestic innovation by entrepreneurs and startups.
Women-led Development
India hopes to use the G20 forum to highlight inclusive growth and development, with women empowerment and representation being at the
core of the deliberations. This includes a focus on bringing women to the fore, and in leading positions, in order to boost socio-economic development and achievement of SDGs. The Self-help Group movement, which India has adopted covering all sectors of development, is made up of women for their
benefit and using their suggestions and ideas has been a huge success. During the recent pandemic, it was women-led groups that were able to ensure
hygiene and good health in their villages in rural India and it was primarily women who worked as health workers in urban areas too to spread the best
practices of safe hygiene to all.
The Ministerial meeting in August on Women Empowerment in Gandhinagar should hopefully address these issues.
Blog writer: Natasha Patel, CEO, India Sanitation Coalition
