Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan on Friday joined the inaugural session of the 2nd Sherpa meeting under India’s G20 Presidency in Kumarakom, Kerala.

Speaking at the event, he said that he is confident that Sherpas will strongly carry forward the discussions further to achieve ambitious outcomes.

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In a tweet, he wrote, “Delighted to have joined the inaugural session of 2nd #G20 Sherpa Meeting at Kumarakom, Kerala.”

“Confident that the Sherpas will carry forward the discussions further to achieve outcomes that are ambitious, inclusive, decisive & action-oriented,” the tweet read further.

The 2nd G20 Sherpa meeting is chaired by India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant and will witness participation by over 120 delegates from the world’s 20 largest economies, nine invitee countries, and international and regional organisations.

The event, according to an official statement, is slated to work on a range of issues of global concern.

The delegates will reportedly hold multilateral discussions on G20’s economic and developmental priorities as well as on addressing contemporary global challenges during the four-day gathering.

The deliberations of the Sherpa meetings will take forward the outcomes of various Sherpa Track and Finance Track meetings. The deliberations will form the basis of the Leaders declaration, slated to be adopted at the summit set to take place in New Delhi in September 2023, the official press release said.

India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant will also lead discussions with the G20 Troika comprising India, Indonesia and Brazil. He will meet with G20 Sherpas and heads of delegations of G20 members, invitees and international organizations, including the Emerging Market Economies (EMEs) to discuss issues pertinent to the Global South and from the Advanced Economies (AEs) on shared priorities and mutually beneficial ways forward.

The MEA in the press release noted that India has selected its G20 priorities considering the diverse global challenges of the day, the concerns of developing countries and the need for greater momentum for collective action to take forward the shared international agenda, especially the development and environment agenda.

India’s G20 theme “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – “One Earth. One Family. One Future” encapsulates the shared vision of the G20 for galvanising wide support and reaching decisive, ambitious, inclusive and action-oriented outcomes. These 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 and Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), accelerated, inclusive and resilient growth, accelerating progress on sustainable development goals (SDGs), technological transformation and digital public infrastructure, multilateral institutions for the 21st century and women-led development.

These priorities demonstrate the needs of the Global South which were articulated by 125 participating countries at the first-ever Voice of Global South summit, according to MEA press release. The Voice of Global South Summit was hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2023.

Notably, the first G20 Sherpa meeting was held in Udaipur in December last year. The meeting witnessed active participation by G20 Members, nine guest countries and 14 international organizations.