PM Modi to address G20 Development Ministers Meeting that kicks off in Varanasi today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver a special video address at the G20 Development Ministers Meeting that begins in Varanasi today.

Union Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar will chair the G20 Development Ministers’ Meeting being held from 11 to 13th June under India’s G20 Presidency. A total of 200 delegates will be attending the meeting.

The Varanasi Development Ministers’ Meeting takes place amidst mounting developmental challenges worldwide that have been further aggravated by the global economic slowdown, debt distress, impacts of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, growing poverty and inequality, food and energy insecurity, cost-of-living crisis, global supply-chain disruptions, and geopolitical conflicts and tensions.

The G20 Development Ministerial meeting will be an opportunity to collectively agree on actions for accelerating achievement of the SDGs (sustainable development goals) and foster synergies between the development, environment and climate agendas while avoiding costly trade-offs that hold back progress for the developing countries, according to an official statement.

The meeting follows the Voice of the Global South Summit that was hosted by India in January 2023, and the decisions taken at the Varanasi meeting will also contribute to the United Nations SDG Summit which will take place in September in New York. The Development Ministers’ Meeting was preceded by the fourth and final Development Working Group (DWG) Meeting, which was held in Delhi from June 6-9.

The meeting will consist of two main sessions, one on “Multilateralism: Collective Actions for Accelerating Progress towards SDGs” and another on “Green Development: A LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) Approach”.

The development working group, while building on the crucial work done by previous G20 presidencies, has carried forward its mandate of enhancing G20’s contribution to accelerating progress towards SDGs and strengthening G20 long-term vision in this regard including by strengthening G20 efforts towards fostering sustainable, inclusive and resilient economic growth.

Cultural programmes, exhibitions and excursions have also been organized to provide the delegates a glimpse into the rich culture and traditions of Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world.

Mission LiFE was first announced by PM Modi at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference to bring individual behaviours at the forefront of the global climate action narrative.

As a part of Mission LiFE, a comprehensive and non-exhaustive list of 75 individual LiFE actions have been identified across 7 themes – save water, save energy, reduce waste, reduce e-waste, reduce single-use plastics, adopt sustainable food systems, and adopt healthy lifestyles.