The Union cabinet on Tuesday approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat and related structures that will implement policy decisions and be responsible for arrangements for India’s forthcoming presidency of the group in 2023..
India will hold the presidency of the G20 from December 1, 2022, to November 30, 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India next year. The decision on setting up the secretariat and other structures was made at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The G20 Secretariat will handle work related to knowledge, content, technical, media, security and logistical aspects of India’s presidency of the inter-governmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). The secretariat will be manned by officers and staff from the external affairs and finance ministries, and other relevant line ministries and departments and domain knowledge experts. It will be functional till February 2024..
The secretariat will be guided by an apex committee that will be headed by the prime minister and will include the finance minister, home minister, external affairs minister, and the G20 Sherpa, who is commerce minister Piyush Goyal. A coordination committee will also be set up to oversee all G20 preparations and report to the apex committee. The G20 Secretariat will enable long-term capacity building, including knowledge and expertise, for India’s leadership on global issues at multilateral forums, the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
The Group of Twenty includes the world’s 20 largest economies and is the premier forum for international economic cooperation that plays an important role in global economic governance.India was originally expected to be president of the G20 in 2022, coinciding with the 75th year of the country’s independence. It had arranged a swap with Italy, which was to be the chair in 2022 but agreed to take on the presidency in 2021. During the G20 Summit in November 2020, India made another swap with Indonesia, which took on the presidency for 2022.
