Diplomacy

A report by an Indo-Australian industry body said on Friday that the two nations and their respective industries can deeply collaborate in the fields of Agri tech, E-commerce and retail tech, Fin tech, Health Tech, Ed Tech, Cybersecurity, R&D and others. Top officials from both countries reiterated the commonalities between the democracies and Commonwealth nations and touched upon how technology can create new opportunities.

H.E. Mr. Mario Draghi, President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic and H.E. Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, had a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit hosted by Italy in Rome on October 30-31, 2021.

The newly formed India-US-Israel-United Arab Emirates grouping, is an “offspring” of the Abraham Accords, and will focus on infrastructure development in the region and beyond, the Israeli ambassador to India Naor Gilon said.

“G-20 has acknowledged India’s Leadership on global concerns and has supported views of India on a wide array of issues which would come up on the upcoming summit” said Shri Piyush Goyal while briefing the media after the concluded Ministerial meeting of G 20 Sherpas.

It may be noted that the agenda of the just concluded Sherpas’ meeting to finalize the Rome Declaration will be adopted by the Leaders at the summit.

It may be noted that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been invited by the Prime Minister of Italy, H.E. Mr. Mario Draghi and has arrived in Rome earlier this morning.

This is PM’s 8th G20 Summit.

Shri Piyush Goyal has been in Rome for the past 3 days to oversee final preparations for the Prime Minister’s participation in the G20 Summit.

In Italy, Shri Piyush Goyal participated in the 6th G20 Sherpas’ meeting from 27-29 Oct and held bilateral meetings with many of his G20 counterparts (UK, Germany, France, EU, Indonesia, Singapore (FM))

Shri Goyal said that G20 has emerged as the premier global forum for international cooperation. He said that G 20 represents 80% of the world’s GDP, 75% of global trade and 60% of the world’s population.

It may be noted that Italy is holding the Presidency of the G20 this year under the theme- ‘People, Planet, Prosperity’ with a focus on:

“Recovery from the pandemic & strengthening global health governance, Economic recovery & resilience, Climate change & energy transition and Sustainable development & food security”

Speaking to media, Shri Goyal said that India fully supports the priority areas chosen by Italy. He said that the agenda of the just concluded Sherpas’ meeting was to finalize the Rome Declaration, which will be adopted by the Leaders at the G20 Summit.

The Minister said that the G20 has endorsed India’s position that extensive COVID-19 immunization is a global public good and he was happy to get support from G20 colleagues for his suggestion on mutual recognition of travel documents, including testing and vaccine certificates.

On the issue of Sustainable Development and food security, He said that we have insisted that policies must protect interests of small and marginal farmers, conserve local food cultures which in turn will ensure food security

Shri Goyal said that on Climate Change and Environment, India has strongly spoken on the need for critical enablers for galvanizing global Climate action, which includes commensurate, long term, concessional climate finance, access to affordable and sustainable technology, commitment to adopt sustainable lifestyles and responsible consumption patterns and importance of meeting SDG-12 targets, especially by the developed countries.

On the issue of post covid Economic Recovery, he said, as co-chairs of the G20 Framework Working Group, India is ensuring that there is no premature withdrawal of support and the most vulnerable sections are provided necessary support. G20 has agreed to extend the Debt Service Suspension initiative till the end of 2021, thereby giving some breathing space to those in need and the vulnerable population around the world

Shri Goyal added that on the issue of Tax Reforms, India has pushed the G20 to address mismatch between source of generation of profits and the jurisdiction where they are taxed. This will ensure that large MNCs pay a minimum effective corporate tax in the country of their operation.

Elaborating more on the deliberations, Shri Goyal said that on Anti-Corruption matters , India as the G20 co-chair of the Anti-Corruption working group this year, has contributed towards the five think pieces related to asset recovery, Information sharing, Law Enforcement Cooperation, Technology & Denial of Safe Haven.

On the issues concerning Women Empowerment -Education & Employment, the Minister for Commerce and Industry Textiles, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said that India supports G20’s emphasis on women’s empowerment. We strongly advocated for the inclusion of language against gender-based violence and supported the new policy framework of G20 on ‘remote working arrangements’

Shri Goyal added that India highlighted the importance of recovery of the Tourism sector especially given the impact of COVID-19 on this sector. India welcomes G20 focus on creative economy and preserving cultural heritage was supported by India

The Minister said that India strongly pushed for the need for balancing the ‘data free flow with trust’ narrative with cross border data flows and accommodating development imperatives of the developing countries. He added that G20’s endorsement of using ‘data for development’ is a matter of great satisfaction.

The Minister emphasised that India’s voice in G20 represents the voice of all developing countries. He said that it was following PM Modi’s suggestion to the Saudi Leadership in 2020 that, G20 convened an extraordinary Summit on the COVID-19 situation last year.

This year, Italy convened a special summit to leverage the G20’s influence in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. G20 also focused on the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially the rights of women, children, minorities and vulnerable people in Afghanistan, according to the principles enshrined in the UN Charter and other relevant international instruments.

Shri Goyal said that India is going to take on the G20 Presidency on 1 Dec, 2022-30 Nov 2023 and enter the Troika in December this year and will take leadership on the issues and concerns of developing countries and emerging market economies in the G20 forum.