PM Modi chairs key all-party meet to strategise upcoming G20 summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired an all-party meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to solicit suggestions for the G20 summit next year.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik, Sikkim's Prem Singh Tamang, and Maharashtra's Eknath Shinde attended the meeting.

Also in attendance were Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Jagan Mohan Reddy, Tamil Nadu's M K Stalin, BJP President J P Nadda, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja, Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu.

Those on the government side present at the meeting included Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister Piyush Goyal.

At the meeting, the Ministry of External Affairs is expected to make a presentation about the programmes planned by the government during India's presidency of G20, sources said.

India officially assumed the G20 presidency on December 1.

The country is expected to host over 200 preparatory meetings across the country beginning this month. The next G20 Leaders' Summit at the level of heads of states or governments is scheduled to be held on September 9 and 10 next year in New Delhi.

G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies. It comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.