Amitabh Kant set to be India’s G20 sherpa
Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant is set to become the country’s Sherpa for the G20 months ahead of India assuming the presidency of the crucial international grouping of major global economies, two people aware of the development said.
New Delhi: Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant is set to become the country’s Sherpa for the G20 months ahead of India assuming the presidency of the crucial international grouping of major global economies, two people aware of the development said.
India is scheduled to hold the presidency of the G20 from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India next year, they said, requesting anonymity.
“G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation and the Prime Minister is taking personal interest in arrangements required for steering India’s forthcoming G20 Presidency,” one of the people said. On December 1, 2021, India joined the “G20 Troika” with Indonesia, Italy, and India representing the current, the previous and the incoming Presidencies in that order.
Also read: Workload prompts Piyush Goyal to give up G20 Sherpa job, Amitabh Kant takes over
An email query sent to the Prime Minister’s Office, the NITI Aayog and the commerce ministry elicit no response. Kant, a 1980-batch, Kerala cadre, officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), left the NITI Aayog last month after serving it for about six years.
He takes over from commerce minister Piyush Goyal, who served as India’s G20 Sherpa but whose domestic duties have expanded beyond his ministries -- he also heads the consumer affairs, food and public distribution ministry -- as the leader of the Rajya Sabha since last year.
The G20 is one of the key international groups as its members represent more than 80% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), 75% of the global international trade and 60% of the world population.
Its members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. Spain is invited as a permanent guest.
Sherpas play a crucial role in the group as the G20 process involves the Sherpa track and the Finance track. Under the former, several meetings are organised in crucial areas such as employment, health, digital economy, trade, industry, investment, environment, climate change, energy, anticorruption, agriculture, education, women empowerment and socio-economic development, a second person said. Meetings under the finance track involve areas such as international financial architecture, financial inclusion, financing for infrastructure, climate finance and tax matters, he added.
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“As a Troika member, India is working closely with Indonesia and Italy to ensure consistency and further strengthening the G20 agenda. India will assume the G20 Presidency on 1 December 2022 from Indonesia, and will convene the G20 Leaders’ Summit for the first time in India in 2023,” minister of state for external affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh told the Rajya Sabha on April 4.
Every rotating G20 presidency also serves as the G20 secretariat for the year. The Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, approved the setting up of India’s G20 secretariat, manned by officers and staff from the ministry of external affairs (MEA), ministry of finance, and other concerned departments dealing with G20 subjects, Singh said.
“It is responsible for arrangements and implementation of decisions needed for steering India’s forthcoming G20 Presidency, under the overall guidance and direction of Hon’ble Prime Minister and concerned Ministers,” he said.
The secretariat handles work related to substantive content of G20 discussions, as well as logistics including preparation of meetings and venues, technical, media and security aspects, and facilitating arrangements for G20 delegates. As the holder of the G20 presidency, India will set the agenda for the year, identify the themes and focus areas, conduct discussions, and work out outcome documents.
