The four-day 2nd G20 Sherpas meeting under India’s G20 Presidency, chaired by India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, is set to begin in the picturesque village of Kumarakom in Kerala from tomorrow.

The important gathering of over 120 delegates from G20 members, 9 invitee countries, and various international and regional organisations will hold multilateral discussions on G20’s economic and developmental priorities as well as on addressing contemporary global challenges. The deliberations will focus both on policy approaches and concrete implementation.

The 2nd Sherpas meeting will work on a range of cross-cutting issues of global concern and will encompass the work being done under the 13 Working Groups within the Sherpa track.

Further, 11 Engagement Groups and 4 Initiatives (Research and Innovations Initiative Gathering or RIIG, Empower, Space Economy Leaders’ Meeting or SELM and Chief Scientific Advisers Roundtable or CSAR) are also feeding policy recommendations from the perspectives of the civil society, private sector, academia, women, youth, scientific advancement and research.

The deliberations of the Sherpa meetings will take forward the outcomes of various Sherpa Track and Finance Track Meetings and will form the basis of the Leaders’ Declaration, slated to be adopted at the New Delhi Summit in September.

India has selected its G20 priorities keeping in view the diverse global challenges of the day, the concerns of developing countries as well as the need for greater momentum for collective action to take forward the shared international agenda, especially the development and environment agenda.

In this context, India’s G20 theme “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – “One Earth. One Family. One Future” aptly encapsulates the shared vision of the G20 for galvanising wide support and arriving at decisive, ambitious, inclusive, and action-oriented outcomes. Such outcomes require the G20 to come together and act as one family to instil hope.

Ongoing deliberations during India’s G20 Presidency include Green Development, Climate Finance & Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE); Accelerated, Inclusive & Resilient Growth; Accelerating progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Technological Transformation & Digital Public Infrastructure; Multilateral Institutions for the 21st century; and Women-led development. These priorities reflect the needs of the Global South, articulated by 125 participating countries, at the first-ever Voice of Global South summit, hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January.