India believes that the G20 summit’s success lies in its ability to anticipate, prevent, and prepare for significant risks, which calls for inclusive multilateralism, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, Anurag Thakur, said on Wednesday.

“The G20 has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to forge concessions in times of crisis. The concession among the G20 countries on coordinated solutions will help the global economy recover from the slowdown and create new opportunities for growth and prosperity,” he said while addressing the media at the inauguration of the second Finance and Central Bank Deputies meet held in Bengaluru.

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The theme for the meeting—one earth, one family, and one future- represents nations’ collaborative efforts to address the challenges faced by the global economy, such as food inflation, geopolitical tension, worrisome climate change, and debt, among others.

“The G20 can play a crucial role in finding answers to these problems because the effects of all these crises have the potential to slow down progress on the most important development metrics for the world,” the union minister noted.

Earlier, addressing the inaugural session of the G20 Second Finance and Central Bank Deputies (FCBD), he said the global economy is facing the lingering effects of the Covid pandemic, food and energy insecurity, broad-based inflation, heightened debt vulnerabilities, worsening climate change, and geopolitical tensions. These issues can drag the progress of world’s key development priorities.

“The G20 can make a significant contribution to find pragmatic global solutions to these challenges through focused dialogue and deliberations and the Indian Presidency seeks to actively facilitate this,” he said.

Towards fulfilling this goal, the G20 Finance Track discussions in 2023 will include strengthening multilateral development banks (MDBs) to meet the shared global challenges of the 21st century, financing ‘cities of tomorrow’, leveraging digital public infrastructure for financial inclusion and productivity gains and advancing the international taxation agenda, among others, Thakur said while adding that various work streams in G20 have already initiated work on these key issues.

The meeting of the deputies is dedicated to the finalisation of the communique that will be endorsed by the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G20 FMCBG) during their meeting on February 24 and 25.

The discussions in the G20 FMCBG meeting are intended to provide a clear mandate for the various work streams of the G20 Finance Track in 2023.

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The G20 meeting, which is being held under the Indian Presidency, will be spread over three sessions on February 24-25, covering issues such as strengthening multilateral development banks to address shared global challenges, financing resilient, inclusive, and sustainable cities for tomorrow, and leveraging digital public infrastructure for advancing financial inclusion, and productivity gains.

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