India focusing on economic growth, climate action: G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant

India’s focus during negotiations on outcomes for the G20 Summit was on economic growth, climate action and digital transformation, as contentious issues such as the Ukraine crisis were put on the back burner, the country’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant, has said.

The draft leaders’ declaration is based on recommendations which emerged from India’s Voice of Global South Summit in January and was joined by more than 120 countries, and there has been a push for a globally acceptable governance framework for digital public infrastructure (DPI), Kant said in an interview after the conclusion of the third G20 Sherpas’ meeting.

The sherpas, or senior officials acting on behalf of leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies, held four rounds of discussions in Hampi to give shape to the leaders’ declaration to be adopted at the summit in September amid lingering differences over the text to describe the Ukraine crisis.

“The objective is to negotiate and bring everybody around to a common agreement and yet be, as Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] said, decisive, action-oriented, ambitious and inclusive. To bring all 20 countries around is a very challenging task because it’s not a document of India, it’s everyone’s document,” Kant said.

India’s ambitious draft document was based on priorities such as inclusive and sustainable growth, expedited implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), a green development pact, reform of multilateral institutions and digital transformation.

The Ukraine crisis was kept on the back burner for now, Kant said. “It’s not an important issue for us at this stage. It will become important at the right time…At this stage, if I start discussing it, it will impact other issues…So both as a necessity and as a strategy, it’s not an important issue at this stage,” he said.

“The important thing to understand is G20 is not a political forum. It’s a forum for economic issues, growth and global financial architecture. And the more we keep it focused on economics, growth, prosperity and developmental issues, the better it is. It is not a political forum, otherwise, it will become like the United Nations (UN),” Kant said.

At the same time, he acknowledged the G20 is increasingly being seen as the only organisation that is responsive to critical global issues. “All key issues are being discussed here, and if the African Union comes in, [the G20] will be the key institution for the global architecture, because the UN is very unwieldy, it’s non-functional, it’s too large…If the G20 decides, then things happen,” he added.

Kant said there was an “overwhelming response” to Modi’s proposal to all G20 leaders that the African Union should become a permanent member of the grouping. “We are very, very hopeful that based on the prime minister’s proposal, the African Union will find a permanent position in the G20 during India’s presidency,” he said.

There has been “very rapid progress” in India’s push for DPI during its G20 presidency, and a lot of goodwill has been created for the country’s “digital stack” – or applications for identity, digital payments and healthcare solutions – over the past nine months. “There are four billion people who don’t have a digital identity, close to 2.5 billion people who don’t have bank accounts and 133 countries without a fast payment mechanism. If you have to transform their lives, the only way out is to create DPI,” he said.

He added: “If we don’t create a governance framework, then you will have a situation like what you have had in cryptos. We’ve been able to convince everybody there should be a definition and a governance structure for DPI and I think this G20 presidency has been very useful in doing this.”

In the field of climate justice and climate finance, private-sector lending will play a greater role in achieving ambitious targets. “There is no shortage of money in the world. There is $350 trillion available with the private sector, $150 trillion with institutional investors and the private sector, with pension funds. But they will not invest where the risks are very high,” he said.