India Hosted Its 100th G20 Meeting: What’s Been Happening So Far?

A huge milestone under India’s G20 Presidency was achieved last week, as the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed that 100 G-20 meetings have been held in 41 cities, covering 28 states and union territories of India. It is also worth noting that over 12,300 delegates from over 110 nationalities have attended G20 meetings in India so far. The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world’s population. According to the MEA, the Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) in Varanasi is the 100th meeting of the grouping under India’s presidency that began on December 1 last year. The second Health Working Group in Goa, the 2nd Digital Economy Working Group in Hyderabad and the Space Economy Leaders’ Precursor Meeting in Shillong were also held last week.

It has been said that the “in-person” participation during India’s G20 Presidency is among the largest ever. The MEA also confirmed that India will be hosting foreign delegates for over 200 G20-related meetings in around 60 cities across India, the widest geographical spread in any presidency of the grouping.

So far, a new working group on disaster risk reduction (DRR), a new engagement group “Startup 20” and a new initiative chief science advisers’ Roundtable (CSAR) have been operationalised under India’s G20 presidency. The MEA said that “All 13 sherpa track working groups, eight finance track workstreams, 11 engagement groups and four initiatives have embarked on substantive interactions”. The 11 engagement groups provide a platform for dialogue among the private sector, academia, civil society, youth and women, as well as institutions including the Parliaments, audit authorities and urban administrations.

Three ministerial meetings have been held under India’s G20 presidency to date. The first Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting (FMCBG) was held in Bengaluru in February, the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM) was held in New Delhi in March and the second FMCBG meeting was held in Washington DC earlier this month. Two sherpa meetings have been held in Udaipur and Kumarakom. It has been said that the FMCBG, FMM and sherpa meetings saw a record of high-level in-person participation from all delegations with ministerial-level dignitaries.

The Voice of Global South Summit held in January was attended by 125 countries, including 18 at the heads of state/government level and others at the ministerial level.