Cabinet approves setting up of G20 Secretariat ahead of India's Presidency

India will hold the G20 Presidency for the first time from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India in 2023

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat which will be responsible for implementation of overall policy decisions and arrangements needed for steering India’s upcoming G20 Presidency.

G20 is the premier forum of the 20 largest economies of the world for international economic cooperation that plays an important role in global economic governance. India will hold the Presidency of the G20 for the first time from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India in 2023. The country has been a member of the G20 since its inception in 1999.

As per the practice, the government is establishing a G20 Secretariat to handle work relating to knowledge, technical, media, security and logistical aspects of India’s G20 Presidency. “It will be manned by officers and staff from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and other relevant line Ministries/Departments and domain knowledge experts. The Secretariat will be functional till February 2024,” the Cabinet Secretariat said in a statement.

The Secretariat will be guided by an apex committee headed by Prime Minister Modi with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and G20 Sherpa Piyush Goyal to provide overall guidance to India’s G20 Presidency. Further, a coordination committee will also be set up to oversee all G20 preparations and report to the apex committee.  “The G20 Secretariat will enable long term capacity building, including knowledge and expertise, for India’s leadership on global issues in multilateral fora,” the statement added.

India in December last year joined the G20 Troika which consists of Indonesia, Italy, and India - the current, previous and incoming G20 Presidencies, respectively. Indonesia has assumed the G20 Presidency and will convene various G20 meetings throughout 2022 culminating with the G20 Leaders’ Summit on 30-31 October 2022 under the overall theme of "Recover Together Recover Stronger”. As a Troika-member, India will work closely with Indonesia and Italy to ensure consistency and continuity of the G20’s agenda.

The India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) is currently redeveloping Pragati Maidan for setting up of a world class Integrated Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) at a cost of Rs 2254 crore that will host the G20 Summit.