New Delhi: The first G-20 Infrastructure Working Group meeting kicked off on Monday in Pune in which 'Financing Cities of Tomorrow: Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable' will be discussed in the two-day meeting. The first day saw Narayan Rane, Minister of MSME, welcoming G20 delegates to Pune. The forum will bring together the IWG member countries, guest countries and international organisations invited by India to discuss the 2023 Infrastructure Agenda under the Indian G20 Presidency. In all, 66 delegates from more than 30 countries will be participating in the event.
The meeting is being hosted by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, along with Australia and Brazil as the co-chairs. In a significant milestone, India assumed the presidency of the G20 on December 1, 2022. India is currently part of the G20 Troika comprising Indonesia, India and Brazil, marking the first time that the troika is consisting of three developing and emerging economies.
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The G20 Infrastructure Working Group will deliberate on various aspects of infrastructure investments, including developing infrastructure as an asset class, promoting quality infrastructure investment and identifying innovative instruments for mobilising financial resources for infrastructure investment.
The G20 meeting was preceded by several Jan-Bhagidari initiatives by the Pune Municipal Corporation and other Pune city stakeholders, including lectures on G-20, a seminar on ‘Making Cities Future Ready and Importance of Urban Development’, a G-20 cyclothon, a motorbike rally on National Youth Day, Swachhata drive and model G-20 discussions in the educational institutions. The initiative aims at involving people from all walks of life in the discussions happening around the G20 meeting.
The Indian G20 Presidency’s theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ sets the tone for the 2023 Infrastructure Agenda under the 2023 Indian G20 Presidency as it underlines the message of equitable growth and aptly ties up with the central agenda of the discussions which is building resilient, inclusive and sustainable urban infrastructure.
