Indian ministers to highlight G20 priorities at Davos meet

In the midst of the world’s multiple crises, India is sending a group of senior ministers to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos to highlight major issues on the agenda of India’s G20 presidency.

The 53rd annual meeting of the World Economic Forum will take place from January 16–20, 2023, in the Swiss resort town of Davos, Switzerland. The theme of this summit is “Cooperation of the fragmented world.” Leaders from industry, government, and civil society will come together annually to discuss current events and long-term goals. It will act as a platform for positive, progressive discussion in order to find solutions through public-private partnerships.

Union ministers Ashwani Vaishav (Minister of Railways, Communications, and Electronics, and Information Technology), RK Singh (Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy), Mansukh L. Mandaviya (Minister of Health and Family Welfare of India), and Smriti Irani (Ministries of Women and Child Development and Ministry of minority affairs), are among those in this group.

Besides the ministers, three Chief Ministers of Indian states: Yogi Adityanath of Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, Eknath Shinde of Maharashtra, India’s commercial capital and B.S. Bommaiof Karnataka, whose capital Bengaluru is known as the country’s Silicon Valley.

The ministers will highlight the main goals of India’s G20 presidency, which centre on financing for green energy and the climate, developing global health architecture, advancing women, and producing distinctive digital goods, said Manish Chand, Editor-in-Chief, India Writes Networks and Director, Centre for Global Insights India (CGII).

Many common issues figure on the agenda of the World Economic Forum and India’s 2023 G20 presidency. Both of these high-level gatherings are addressing common challenges such as energy, food shortages, climate change, and digitalization. The Davos meeting is crucial for India because it will also present the viewpoints and concerns of the global south that are not being heard, such as the effects of COVID-29, terrorism, the continuing crisis, and the debt crisis. This is also a chance for the nation to promote the Global Investors Summit that will take place in Uttar Pradesh in February.

Who is attending?

India’s corporate giants will be in full attendance at the Davos forum. The business leaders who will attend WEF2023 include Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, N Chandrasekaran, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Adar Poonawalla, Sajjan Jindal, Nadir Godrej, Rajan Mittal and Sunil Mittal, and Sanjiv Bajaj.

Top world leaders who are expected to attend include German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, South Africa President Cyril M Ramaphosa, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Swiss President Alain Berset, and Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will also be in Switzerland for the 2023 summit.

The US will be represented by Biden administration officials including presidential climate envoy John Kerry, head of national intelligence Avril Haines and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai as well as several governors and congressional lawmakers.

“This year there’s clear need for a dual vision: First, how do we respond to the immediate crisis touching all corners of the globe? And, at the same time, how do we lay the groundwork to create a more sustainable, resilient, world by the end of the decade? Most critically, there is a need to find meaningful solutions to address the overlapping global resource crisis in energy and food, as well as weak economic outlook,” writes Mirek Desek, Managing Director, World Economic Forum.

(Tanya Kala contributed inputs for this article)

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