First G20 Sherpa meeting in Udaipur sets the tone for the year-long events

UDAIPUR: The 1st Sherpa Meeting of India’s G20 Presidency commenced Sunday, on 04 December 2022, in Udaipur Rajasthan. A series of briefings and interactions with the media and a side event on Transforming Lives at the Midpoint of the 2030 Agenda: Accelerating Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in an Era of Cascading and Multiple Crises were organised.

With this, the 4-day event (Dec 4-7) set the tone for as many as 200 meetings of the G20 member-states, invitees and organisations across over 50 cities in India, which are being planned in the run up to the G20 summit to be held in September 2023.

The day also witnessed the arrival of Sherpas and delegations of various G20 nations and heads of invited International Organisations at Udaipur. Various Rajasthani cultural activations were carried out to welcome the delegates and showcase to them the tradition of Indian hospitality and performing arts.

The four-day gathering of the Sherpas of G20 Members, invited countries and International Organizations will set the stage for the important conversation on some of the most pressing issues of our time, including technological transformation, green development and LiFE, spotlighting women-led development, accelerating implementation of the SDGs, and facilitating inclusive and resilient growth.

The first side event was a panel discussion on accelerating implementation of SDGs. For the past seven years, India has been at the forefront of adopting, implementing, and monitoring the SDGs and localising it to suit the subnational and local realities. While there is a long way to go, many of India’s programmatic interventions have been successful in creating impact at scale. India’s innovative approaches, tools and experiences in areas such as digital transformation especially ‘data for development’, just green transition, women-led development, and economic growth for SDGs offer a variety of good practices and lessons learned, from which other nations can benefit to address their own challenges to SDG acceleration.

The side event witnessed fruitful discussions on how these four accelerators can help overcome many of the obstacles that the 2030 Agenda currently faces due to the cascading and multiple crises the world faces, as it reaches the midpoint of the SDG journey. In the welcome note to all delegates, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant stressed on India’s belief that every crisis is an opportunity and leadership is about finding path breaking solutions in the midst of crisis. He focused on the onerous responsibility on all G20 sherpas to give shape to a new future. At the end of the discussion, the panel concluded that the G20 platform is in a unique position to provide leadership and financial resources and work together to bring the world back on track to achieve the SDGs.

The Jal Sanjhi art form is an incredible 300-year-old Rajasthani rare art form where the canvas is the surface of water. Rajesh Vaishnav, a Jal Sanjhi Artist, created a beautiful piece of art for all the guests to view and appreciate. The Desert Music Symphony led by the renowned Sangeet Natak Academy awardee, Shri Gazi Khan Barna including maestros of both the Langa and Manganiyar folk musical linage of Rajasthan delivered a memorable performance for the guests.

Apart from presenting folk music, the program also showcased an ensemble of Rajasthani folk musical instruments like kamaicha, sindhi sarengi, surinda, algoza, matka, murli, dholak, khartal, bhapang, tandura, morchang, manjira. Going back to the roots, the Desert Music Symphony was specially curated to give the esteemed guests an immersive cultural experience, embedded in the folk tradition of Rajasthan. The Sherpas and members of visiting delegations also sampled traditional millets snack boxes and Rajasthani bandhini bags.

On Sunday, an informal press interaction was organised with media persons across television and print media in the backdrop of Udaipur’s famous Lake Pichola. India’s key priorities for the upcoming year, spanning across resilient economic growth, climate action, women-led development and more were discussed. The structure of India’s G20 Presidency and various working and engagement groups were explained during the briefing. Priorities of the working groups were also highlighted. It was reasserted that in spite of facing several global challenges, India will advocate a sense of oneness for all and find solutions collectively with other nations. There was also focus on India’s stand as a voice for the global south.