The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, reached Bali, Indonesia yesterday, accompanied by a high-level delegation from the Ministry, for a three-day visit to attend the G-20 Summit. In Bali, Tomar met separately with the Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau, and Australia's Assistant Minister for Trade and Manufacturing, Tim Ayres.
Tomar invited both ministers to the G-20 Agri-Summit, which India will host next year, during bilateral meetings. In addition, he sought their support for the International Year of Millets-2023, which will be held under India's stewardship. The Australian and Canadian Ministers expressed their willingness to work together.
India will host over 200 G20-related meetings across the country during its presidency of the G20, which will begin on December 1, 2022 and end on November 30, 2023. Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the UAE will be "guest countries" at the G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10, 2023, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on September 13.
"India is currently a member of the G20 Troika [current, previous, and incoming G20 Presidency], which includes Indonesia, Italy, and India." The troika would be India, Indonesia, and Brazil during our presidency. This would be the first time that the troika would include three developing and emerging economies, giving them a stronger voice, according to an official statement from the Ministry of External Affairs.
The announcement stated that the summit's priorities are being "firmed up," and that discussions will include "women's empowerment, digital public infrastructure, health, agriculture, education, culture, tourism, climate financing, circular economy, global food security, energy security, green hydrogen, disaster risk reduction and resilience, fight against economic crime, and multilateral reforms."
A major challenge for the G20 meeting in India will be the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, which has strained relations between Russia and the Western industrialised nations, the majority of which are members of the G20, which accounts for 85% of global GDP and 75% of international trade. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, and the European Union are all members of the G20 (EU).
