New Delhi: The G20 Development Ministers’ Meeting under the G20 Indian Presidency is scheduled to be held between 11-13 June 2023 in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Union Minister of External Affairs Dr S. Jaishankar chaired the meeting.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was delivered a special video address at the beginning of the meeting.
The Varanasi Development Ministers’ Meeting took place amidst mounting developmental challenges that have been further aggravated by economic slowdown, debt distress, impacts of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, growing poverty and inequality, food and energy insecurity, cost-of-living crisis, global supply-chain disruptions, and geo-political conflicts and tensions.
The G20 Development Ministerial meeting was an opportunity to collectively agreed on actions for accelerating achievement of the SDGs and foster synergies between the development, environment and climate agendas while avoiding costly trade-offs that held back progress for the developing countries.
The meeting followed the Voice of the Global South Summit that was hosted by India in January 2023, and the decisions taken at the Varanasi meeting will also contribute to the United Nations SDG Summit which will take place in September in New York.
The meeting was 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”.
The Development Ministers’ Meeting was preceded by the fourth and final Development Working Group (DWG) Meeting, which was held in Delhi from June 6-9.
The DWG, while building on the crucial work done by previous G20 presidencies, has carried forward its mandate of enhancing G20’s contribution to accelerating progress towards SDGs and strengthening G20 long-term vision in this regard including by strengthening G20 efforts towards fostering sustainable, inclusive and resilient economic growth.
Cultural programmes, exhibitions and excursions have also been organized to provide the delegates a glimpse into the rich culture and traditions of Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world.
A total of 200 delegates are expected to attend the meeting.