During his tenure as president of the G20, PM Modi will set the global agenda: Amitabh Kant

Nisha December 2, 2022Last Updated: December 2, 2022

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"This is an extremely important responsibility, as the G20 is responsible for 85 per cent of the global GDP, 78 per cent of the global trade, 90 per cent of the world's patents, and almost two-thirds of the world's population," he noted.

Amitabh Kant, the G20 Sherpa, on Thursday described the assumption of India’s presidency as a “huge responsibility”, stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will set the global agenda as G20 president.

As he spoke at the ‘G20 University Connect – Engaging Young Minds’ event held on the occasion of India’s G20 presidency, Kant noted, “Today is a landmark day in India’s history as India takes over the G20 presidency.”

“This is an extremely important responsibility, as the G20 is responsible for 85 per cent of the global GDP, 78 per cent of the global trade, 90 per cent of the world’s patents, and almost two-thirds of the world’s population,” he noted.

During his tenure as president of the G-20, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will set the agenda for the world. View of the fact that we are taking on this responsibility at a time when the world is facing many challenges, this is a huge responsibility. Currently, there’s a geopolitical crisis. Global supply chain breakdown is a challenge. We’re in climate action and financial crisis. A global debt crisis is hitting 70 countries, and because of Covid, 200 million people are below the poverty line.”

According to Kant, India’s G-20 leadership will be “decisive”, “ambitious”, “action-oriented” and “reform-driven”. As Kant addressed the gathering of university students, he said the youth of India are critical to making that happen.

As India takes over the G20 presidency at a “challenging time,” Kant says every challenge is an opportunity, and the country has shown it can use every crisis as a springboard.

K Sanjay Murthy, Department of Higher Education Secretary, shared the education working group’s proposed plans.

India’s presidency has four priority areas. These are ensuring Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, especially in the context of blended learning; enhancing the quality, inclusion, and collaboration of technology-enabled learning at all levels; building capacity; and promoting lifelong learning within the context of the future of work, strengthening research, fostering innovation through research collaboration,” Murthy said, adding that four meetings of the education working group have been proposed to be held in Chennai, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar and Pune in the first half of next year. Moreover, the ministerial meeting will take place in Pune on the 28th of June, 2023.

Besides this, we propose to hold four seminars at these four venues, one on each identified priority, as well as an exhibition in order to showcase some of our best educational initiatives,” he stated.