The inaugural Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) Meeting under India’s G20 Presidency started on Monday in Pune. It has covered various topics related to making cities economic growth hubs, funding urban infrastructure, and making it future-ready in every circumstance.
The summit has also focused on allocating fiscal investments to release private financing for environmentally and energy-friendly infrastructure and reduce socioeconomic inequalities.
The IWG summit, hosted as part of India’s G-20 Presidency, was organised for January 16–17 in Pune, Maharashtra. India invited several forum members, guest nations, and international organisations to discuss the 2023 Infrastructure Agenda.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs’ official release, the Department of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Finance hosted the meeting, with Australia and Brazil serving as co-chairs.
The G20 Infrastructure Working Group discussed various topics related to infrastructure investments, such as creating an investment class for infrastructure, supporting quality infrastructure investment, and learning different methods for raising money for such expenditures.
The conclusions of the IWG are displayed to support infrastructure development and feed into the G20 Finance Track priorities, per the Ministry of External Affairs’ official statement.
According to Harsh Shringla, India’s chief coordinator for the G20, the concept of data for development is a key component of India’s presidency of the group of the world’s developed and emerging economies,
Brazil, Australia, the Ministry of Finance, and the Department of Economic Affairs are all involved in organising the meeting. In addition, the president of the group of developed and emerging economies of the world referred to Harsh Shringla as the chief coordinator for the G20.
The headline priority, “Financing Cities of Tomorrow: Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable,” is also up for discussion at this gathering. India also played a significant role in the technological aspect of its G20 leadership. The nation places a sharp focus on innovation and technology.
“The first infrastructure working group meeting of the G20 was organised in Pune”, Arokiaraj stated at a press conference. The delegates who arrived had their welcome dinner yesterday.
The challenges, financing choices, standardisations, and statistics relating to the infrastructure sector are all discussed by the Infrastructure Working Group, according to Arokiaraj. Therefore, he explained, “various subjects have been chosen during different presidencies.”
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Argentina, Germany, France, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, the UK, South Africa, The US, and the EU are all members of G20.
