Mumbai to host 1st development working group meeting of G20 India

As India prepares for a meeting under its G20 presidency that will be crucial to securing the interests of developing countries, officials are taking heart from the country’s ability to act as a bridge at a time of divisions within the grouping of the world’s largest economies.

The first meeting of the development working group, to be held in Mumbai from December 13-16, will be used by India to bring to the fore issues that are relevant to developing countries, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

The group is part of the G20’s sherpa track and was one of the first working groups to be created in 2010. It has also been behind some notable deliverables over the years.

As officials prepare for the upcoming meeting, they have been buoyed by the fact that despite geopolitical tensions, all sherpas and heads of delegations, including those of the G7, Russia and China, participated in person at all the meetings and side events held in Udaipur as part of the first sherpas meeting held from December 4-7.

“They shared their views frankly and the discussions were very constructive as everyone focused on the priorities,” the people cited above said.

After months of deadlock during Indonesia’s G20 presidency, a joint communique was adopted at the G20 Summit in Bali last month, but differences still remained, the people noted. “The forward movement at the very beginning of India’s presidency was widely acknowledged by all delegates,” the person cited above said.

“This reflects India’s ability and position to act as a trusted bridge between different sides of the divide, including between G7 and Russia and China, and also between developing countries and advanced economies,” people familiar with the matter said.

According to them, in keeping with the Indian leadership’s pledge to act as a voice for the developing nations at the G20, the country will call for an enhanced role for the Global South in global decision-making during the development working group’s discussions.

During India’s G20 presidency, the development working group will highlight the need to increase the profile of developing nations in international bodies as part of reformed multilateralism to address contemporary challenges, the people added.

India will also focus on accelerating progress in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by raising the profile of development issues across the G20’s working streams. “The emphasis will be on transformative areas and transitions that can catalyse multiplier effects on all SDGs, such as women-led development, digital transformations and just green transitions,” a second person said.

Financing is key to achieving the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and developing countries face many bottlenecks in this area.

The Covid-19 pandemic severely hampered efforts by countries to meet SDG targets by 2030 by restricting fiscal space, and the SDG financing gap in developing countries is estimated to have increased by 20%.

“During India’s presidency, one of the development working group’s priorities is designing a strategy that will focus on finding solutions to accessing affordable development finance that will not trap a country,” the second person said.

The Indian side will also build on its work in digital payments, direct benefit transfers and health by focusing on data-related capacity-building in developing countries and leveraging “data for development” to accelerate progress on the SDGs, the people said.

The development working group has overseen the G20’s development agenda since its inception in 2010. It has also steered the alignment of this development agenda with the SDGs. Besides working on energy and food security, climate change and global health emergencies, the group has dealt with issues such as quality infrastructure and financing for sustainable development.