- INDIA IN THE UN
- INDIA’S G20 PRESIDENCY
- MULTILATERAL INSTITUTIONS
- PLURILATERAL DEVELOPMENTS
- PEACE AND SECURITY
- MISCELLANEOUS
India participates in LDC5
The Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) was held in Doha, Qatar from 5-9 March 2023. MOS MEA Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh delivered India’s national statement at the round table titled “Leveraging the power of Science and Technology and innovation for the sustainable development of LDCs.” Stating that digitization has the potential to transform the lives of common people everywhere the Minister said that India is willing to share its experiences and solutions in the domains of financial inclusion, digital public goods, and technology for development. The Minister underlined India’s flagship Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program which offers training and courses across premier Indian institutions spread throughout India. Nearly 30,000 training slots of the ITEC have been utilized by the LDCs. Click here to read...
Gandhi’s relevance highlighted in HRC
India’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, H.E Indra Mani Pandey addressed 52nd session of the Human Rights Council. He delivered a joint statement on 'Resonance of Thoughts and Values of Mahatma Gandhi in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' at the council on behalf of India and 89 other countries. In his accompanying speech he spoke of the five core concepts espoused by Mahatma Gandhi that is Ahimsa, Satyagraha, Sarvodaya, Swaraj and Trusteeship, pointing out that they are also the core principles of the UN Charter. Click here to read...
ICT Working Group deliberates threats
The Fourth Substantial Session of the OEWG on the Security of and in the Use of ICTs 2021-2025 was held from 6-10 March 2023. In an intervention, India’s representative highlighted that for developing and small countries especially, advanced Artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Quantum Communications and other technological developments surpass the existing capacity of the Member States to develop suitable policies to harness the economic and social opportunities and prevent and respond to the latest threats that come with these new and emerging technologies.India gave substantial suggestions for promoting common understandings, and possible cooperative measures to prevent and counter ICT threats; developing the rules, norms and principles of responsible behaviour of States; the development and operationalization of a global, intergovernmental Point of Contact Directory; Capacity-building and application of international law to the use of ICTs by states. Click here to read...
India highlights imperatives for counter terrorism
At a discussion of the draft resolution on the 8th Review of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS) on 9-10 March 2023, India’s representative highlighted the increasing use of new technology by terrorists, and in that context the need forpreserving unity of unequivocal support to the GCTS and not surrender the “consensus” to exclusivist and narrow approaches. The dangers of making distinctions among good and bad terrorists were highlighted. Such an approach, it was argued, would take us back to the pre 9/11 era of labeling terrorists as “Your Terrorists” and “My Terrorists” and erase the collective gains made over the last two decades. India also pointed to the need for maintaining the secular nature of the strategy by condemning terrorist attacks motivated not only by Islamophobia, Christianphobia, Anti-Semitism but also Anti-Sikh, Anti-Buddhist, Anti-Hindu prejudices. Click here to read...
Anti-Corruption Working Group Meets
The first meeting of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working group was held from 1-3 March 2023. During the meeting there were intensive and productive deliberations on several key focal areas pertaining to asset recovery, fugitive economic offenders, formal and informal channels of cooperation for information sharing, institutional frameworks for combating corruption and mutual legal assistance, among others. This included presentations and interventions of country delegates and experts from UNODC, OECD, Egmont Group, INTERPOL and IMF. Discussions were also held to arrive at a consensus on the draft text of the High-Level Principles that are on the agenda for the ACWG during the India’s G20 Presidency. At a side event held on 1 March, there was focus on leveraging ICT to curb corruption in public sector, an area in which India’s recent initiatives like the GEM Portal and DBT have been globally recognized. Click here to read...
Second Global Partnership for Financial Inclusionmeeting held
The second Meeting of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) under G20 India Presidency was held in Hyderabad from 6-7 March 2023. India and Italy were announced as the new GPFI Co-Chairs with support from the whole membership. During the Plenary, the GPFI members discussed and agreed on the way forward for important deliverables for the year including those on Digital Financial Inclusion, SME Finance. A dedicated workshop was also organised for the development of GPFI Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP) 2023 which will guide the financial inclusion work under G20 for 2024-26. A Symposium on Digital Innovations in Payments and Remittances was also organised on the side lines. The Symposium led to a fruitful exchange of experiences and understanding on the development of a robust payment system for advancing financial inclusion, resilience, productivity gains and inclusive growth. The GPFI Meeting was preceded by a Knowledge and Experience Exchange Programme for the Emerging Economies of the Global South. Click here to read...
Second G20 Framework Working Group meeting hosted
The Second G20 Framework Working Group (FWG) meeting under the Indian G20 Presidency successfully was held in Chennai from 24-25 March 2023. The agenda for the meeting involved discussions on the global economic outlook and risks with a particular emphasis placed on inflation, macroeconomic implications of food and energy insecurity, climate change, and transition policies. During the discussion, members discussed and agreed on the way forward for important deliverables for the year, including those on macroeconomic consequences of food and energy insecurity and climate changes & transition pathways. On the sidelines of this FWG meeting, a panel discussion on the “Macroeconomic Impacts of Climate Change and Transition pathways” was also organized in collaboration with UAE who will be the Presidency of COP28. Reserve Bank of India also conducted a host of ‘Jan Bhagidari Events’, driving home the point of people-centricity in Indian policymaking. These included a financial literacy programme in which several farmer-producer organizations, farmers, and self-help groups participated, followed by an awareness programme targeted at students, events for promoting digital financial inclusion among street vendors and enhancing inclusive finance by building awareness among the MSMEs entrepreneurs and exporters. Click here to read...
Second G20 Infrastructure Working Group meeting hosted
The Second G20 Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) meeting under the Indian G20 Presidency was held in Visakhapatnam from 28-29 March 2023.During the discussion, members discussed and agreed on the way forward for important deliverables for the year, including the flagship theme of “Financing Cities of Tomorrow- Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable”. On this agenda, members discussed various facets of making cities economic centres of growth, financing urban infrastructure and building future-ready urban infrastructure. On the side-lines of the IWG meeting, a Roundtable of International Organizations to discuss infrastructure taxonomies was also organised. The roundtable discussion was organized in partnership with the Global Infrastructure Hub. Over 13 international experts discussed the role of infrastructure definitions and taxonomies in making better data-driven decisions. Click here to read...
Second Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group meeting held
The Second G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting was hosted from27-29 March 2023 at Gandhinagar. Building on the discussions from the first ESCWG, constructive deliberations among the G20 countries took place on Arresting Land Degradation, Accelerating Ecosystem Restoration and Enriching Biodiversity; Promoting a Sustainable and Climate Resilient Blue Economy and Encouraging Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy. The session on Biodiversity, Land degradation and ecosystem restorationwitnessed engaging deliberations amongst the delegates on the two priority landscapes identified under India’s Presidency and presentations on the proposed Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap (GIR) and draft publications on compendium of best practices by experts from United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE). One of the technical sessions witnessed engaging discussions to outline ways of effectively accelerating the transition to a sustainable and climate resilient Blue Economy. Click here to read...
First Trade and Investment Working Group Meeting held
The 1st G20 Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG) meeting was held from 28-30 March 2023. The priorities related to global trade and investment, which the Indian Presidency is pursuing, were discussed on March 29th and 30th across four technical closed-door sessions. On March 29th, the deliberations focused on making trade work for growth and prosperity, and way forward for building resilient Global Value Chains (GVCs). On March 30th, the TIWG priorities on integrating Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in global trade, and building efficient logistics for trade were discussed in the two working sessions.In the sessions, several member countries affirmed the need for diversification of existing value chains and accelerating the participation of firms from developing countries and LDCs for a holistic economic growth. The need for making information and finances easily accessible for MSMEs was discussed in detail during the working sessions. Click here to read...
III. MULTILATERAL INSTITUTIONS
World Bank opens the door to stakeholders
The World Bank Group, led by its Board and shareholders, has embarked on a process to evolve its Vision and Mission, Operating Model, and Financial Capacity, as detailed in the Evolution Roadmap, which was publicly disclosed in January 2023. The Bank Group is now engaging and listening to various stakeholders across the development spectrum to ensure an inclusive and collaborative process. The World Bank’s public online consultation for its Evolution Roadmap is now live and will run through May 31, 2023. The form for submitting feedback is available at World Bank Group Evolution Roadmap survey | World Bank Consultations. Written comments can be emailed to [email protected]. Click here to read...
WTO Working Group on Food Security meets
WTO’s newly established working group on food security held its second meeting on 1 March 2023. Members focused on financing challenges that impede the ability of least-developed countries (LDCs) and net food-importing developing countries (NFIDCs) in addressing the ongoing food security crisis.Acknowledging the budgetary and technological limitations of LDCs and NFIDCs, members emphasized the need to combine immediate financial assistance with long-term structural changes in the agriculture sector of these countries. Many members expressed a keen interest in exploring ways to improve the financial services infrastructure to boost local agricultural production and productivity. This includes enhancing general services such as research and development as well as specific services like disease control, market information and infrastructural investments. Click here to read...
India raises issue of carbon tax at WTO
At the meeting of the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) on 14-15 March 2023, members discussed how to enhance the work of the WTO amid the rising use of trade measures for environmental objectives. Among the many interventions made was India’s paper on the increasing use of environmental measures as protectionist non-tariff measures. India said it was concerned about four areas in particular: carbon border measures; environment-based management of minimum residue limits (MRLs) in agriculture; deforestation-related measures; and import restrictions based on the green content of commodities. Click here to read...
25th ASEAN-India Senior Officials’ Meeting held
The 25th ASEAN-India Senior Officials’ Meeting (AISOM) was held in Jakarta on 7 March 2023. The meeting noted the steady progress in the implementation of the ASEAN-India Plan of Action (POA) (2021-2025) and looked forward to the finalisation of the Annex to the ASEAN-India POA (2021-2025) to ensure that their partnership becomes substantive and mutually beneficial in the coming years. The meeting noted with satisfaction the implementation of the commemorative activities to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ASEAN-India relations in 2022 including the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the inauguration of the ASEAN-India Network of Universities (AINU), ASEAN-India Media Exchange, and ASEAN-India Youth Summit, among others. The meeting also touched upon regional and international issues of mutual interest and concern. Click here to read...
19th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting takes place from Thailand
The Nineteenth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Ministerial Meeting, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, H.E. Don Pramudwinai, was convened virtually from Bangkok, Thailand, on 9 March 2023. During the Meeting, the Ministers considered and approved several key documents emanating from decisions of BIMSTEC Summits, including the Rules of Procedure for Core BIMSTEC Mechanisms (i.e. the Summit; the Ministerial Meeting; the Senior Officials’ Meeting; and the BIMSTEC Permanent Working Committee); BIMSTEC Sectoral Mechanisms; and BIMSTEC’s External Relations. Click here to read...
IFPRI-BIMSTEC MoU on promoting sustainable and inclusive food systems transformation
The International Food Policy Research Institute and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation Secretariat signed a memorandum of understanding to felicitate further collaboration and partnerships to work towards a sustainable and inclusive transformation of food systems in the region. Speaking as special guest at the ceremony, H.E. Tenzin Lakphell, Secretary General BIMSTEC, said that the MoU would initially focuses on three major areas like food security and poverty, trade and investment and climate change and environment. The MoU prioritizes revitalizing the agricultural (and rural) sector by introducing digital agriculture for infusing on-farm technologies, promoting good agricultural practices, taking steps to ensure plant variety protection, increasing competitiveness of agricultural value-chains, establishing farmer-friendly policy formulation, and facilitating the exchange of information on agricultural achievements. Click here to read...
1st SCO Conference and Expo on Traditional Medicine
The first 'SCO B2B Conference and Expo on Traditional Medicine' was held from 2 March 2023. It created a platform for buyers and sellers from different countries to explore trade potential to serve the needs of the people. An incremental trade interest of over ₹590 crores was generated during the two days of intense meetings among the buyers and sellers at the conference. This first-of-its-kind conference & Expo under the SCO initiative was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Ayush and Ports, Shipping & Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal. More than 150 delegates from 17 countries attended the two-day conference and four-day Expo. The Conference and Expo provided an opportunity for regulators, industries and business leaders in all the SCO and partner countries to deliberate on various aspects of Traditional Medicine, such as products, services, education, skill development, cosmetics and policies. Click here to read...
SCO Tourism Administrations Meeting
Shri G. Kishan Reddy, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region, Government of India chaired the Meeting of Heads of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Tourism Administrations held in ‘Kashi’ (Varanasi) on 17 March 2023. The SCO Tourism Ministers finalised and approved the Joint Action Plan prepared for implementing the Agreement between the Governments of the SCO Member States on the Development of Cooperation in Tourism. As per the agreed Joint Action Plan, the member countries will undertake various activities such as SCO tourism exhibition, SCO Food Festival, Webinar & Seminar on tourism, conference and expert session on promotion and development of tourism in the region. The meeting also adopted the Action Plan for “Year of Tourism Development in the SCO Space in 2023.” ‘Kashi’ has been declared as the First Tourism & Cultural Capital of SCO. This recognition will bring the city to a greater prominence in the global tourist map. Click here to read...
EIF calls for funding support for women’s participation in peacekeeping
At an event that brought together more than 350 representatives from Member States, UN organizations, academia and civil society, the Elsie Initiative Fund (EIF) launched a third call for funding proposals to support the meaningful participation of uniformed women in UN peace operations. UN Women’s Executive Director Sima Bahous while opening the event said that “A more gender-responsive mission builds trust with the communities they serve and improves its effectiveness”. Since its creation in 2019, the EIF has awarded over USD $17 million in grants to 20 projects. Five EIF-funded projects are creating inclusive environments for women, including through the construction of gender-sensitive accommodation and facilities in Jordan, Senegal, and Togo and improving deployment conditions for their uniformed women peacekeepers deployed to UN peace operations in Mali and Lebanon. Click here to read...
State of Terrorism 2023 discussed
The Global Terrorism Index 2023 was published by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). In this backdrop, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) co-organized a high-level event to discuss the current terrorist threat landscape, identify emerging and existing trends for the 2022-2023 period, as well as explore how knowledge-informed data and trend analysis on terrorism and counterterrorism issues can contribute to effectively addressing this complex and multifaceted phenomenon. It was emphasized that data-driven and evidence-based approaches must underpin efforts to stay ahead of the curve in preventing and countering terrorism, including by addressing the conditions conducive to its spread. It was underscored that there had been no improvement in terrorism over the last three years, with the Sahel region described as the “epicenter of terrorism” and Sub-Saharan Africa recording the largest increase in deaths. Click here to read...
High Seas Treaty Signed
The Fifth Intergovernmental Conference on a global legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) took place at the UN Headquarters in New York from 20 February to 4 March 2023. At its culmination, agreement was reached on the text of the High Seas treaty. The agreement will allow for the establishment of high seas marine protected areas (MPAs) and help fill the gaps in the current patchwork of management bodies, resulting in better cooperation and less cumulative impact of activities on the high seas, such as shipping, industrial fishing and other resource exploitation. WWF says the High Seas Treaty is necessary to implement the Global Biodiversity Framework, which commits countries to protect and conserve at least 30% of the ocean, and ensure 30% of degraded areas are under restoration, by 2030. Click here to read...
IPCC releases Synthesis Report
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its new report titled “Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report”. The report, approved during a week-long session in Interlaken, brings in to sharp focus the losses and damages we are already experiencing and will continue into the future, hitting the most vulnerable people and ecosystems especially hard. The report states that the solution lies in climate resilient development. This involves integrating measures to adapt to climate change with actions to reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions in ways that provide wider benefits. It argues that there is sufficient global capital to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions if existing barriers are reduced. Increasing finance to climate investments is important to achieve global climate goals. Governments, through public funding and clear signals to investors, are key in reducing these barriers. Investors, central banks and financial regulators can also play their part. Click here to read...
First UN Water Conference held
The UN hosted the first ever Water Conference from 22-24 March 2023. Co-hosted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Tajikistan, the Conference brought together world leaders, civil society, business leaders, young people, scientists, academics, the UN System and others from across sectors — agriculture, energy, environment and water — around a common goal: to urgently tackle the water crisis and set the world back on track to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 – On Clean Water and Sanitation. The Water Action Agenda, the key outcome of the Conference, captured over 700 commitments aimed at driving transformation from a global water crisis to a water-secure world. Click here to read...
