India highlights inclusive, sustainable development agenda at G20 DWG meet

India has put forth an ambitious agenda for the G20 Development Working Group (DWG) which aims to bring inclusive and sustainable development, a senior Central government official told delegates from various countries on the first day of the DWG meeting in Goa.

More than 80 delegates from member countries and nine invitee countries and various international and regional organisations are attending the three-day meeting.

The meeting was co-chaired by India's DWG Co-Chairs Ministry of External Affairs Joint Secretaries Nagaraj K. Naidu and Eenam Gambhir.

"India has put forth an ambitious agenda for the DWG that aims to bring inclusive and sustainable development and accelerating achievement of SDGs at the forefront," Secretary (Economic Relations) of the Ministry of External Affairs, Dammu Ravi, told the delegates in a video address.

Ravi stated that the outcome documents proposed by India including High-Level Principles (HLPs) for Data for Development, HLPs for LiFE and Action Plan on Accelerating Progress on the SDGs will directly feed into the leaders' level document, the Green Development Pact that will be adopted at the Leaders' summit in September.

He urged the DWG to work towards consensus documents and requested support from all delegations.

A day earlier, a senior bureaucrat had said the Goa meeting will set up development outcomes which will be taken up at the final ministerial meet scheduled to be held in Varanasi.

Officials on Tuesday said the sessions on 'Data for Development' and 'HLPs on LiFE' saw exhaustive and engaging discussions and negotiations for finalizing the language of outcome documents that reflects the strong collective will of G20 to work together on the development agenda. Satisfactory progress was achieved during the sessions in coming to a common understanding on a lot of issues, they said.

Before the inaugural on Tuesday morning, an exhibition showcasing India's women-led initiatives was inaugurated.

The exhibition is based on the theme of ECHO The Economy with safe climate and health leads to greater opportunities. It was organised by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs.

The exhibition was curated by the National Institute of Fashion Technology and showcased products conceived, designed, and made by women entrepreneurs, such as handloom and textile items, handicrafts, tea, spices, ayurvedic products, and millet-based food products.

An art and craft exhibition has also been curated by Serendipity Arts at the meeting venue, which was inaugurated by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. It showcased rich and varied craft traditions from different parts of India that have shaped many cultural identities and are being reinvented through innovative applications in modern designs, officials said.