18th G20 Summit comes to a close at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi; PM Modi officially hands over the G20 Presidency to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

The 18th G20 Summit successfully concluded in New Delhi today with India handing over the Presidency to Brazil. In the closing ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over the ceremonial gavel to the President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva. Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Modi expressed confidence that under the Presidency of Brazil, the G20 would be able to achieve the common goals. He also proposed that one virtual session of the G20 forum may be conducted at the end of November to review the progress of the agenda decided in this Summit.

After receiving the gavel, the Brazilian president said that in the present world, wealth is more concentrated while millions of human beings still go hungry. He underlined the need to address the issue of inequality in income, healthcare, education, food and gender. Earlier, Prime Minister Modi chaired the third session namely One Future. Chief coordinator for India’s G20 Presidency, Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that during the Summit, African Union’s inclusion in G20 and adoption of the New Delhi Declaration were huge achievements for India.

Air correspondent said that On the first day of the Summit yesterday, the G20 member nations unanimously adopted the New Delhi Leaders Declaration. It is being seen as a significant victory for India’s G-20 presidency. India’s image as the voice of Global South is reflected in the 37-page declaration which says that member countries need to urgently accelerate their actions to address development and climate challenges, promote Lifestyles for Sustainable Development (LiFE), and conserve biodiversity, forests and oceans. It advocates Scaling up financing from all sources to accelerate progress on SDGs. It recognizes the importance of WTO’s ‘Aid for Trade’ initiative to enable developing countries, to effectively participate in global trade. Strengthening Global Health and Implementing One Health Approach is also a key aspect of the declaration which Focuses on strengthening primary health care and health workforce and improving essential health services and health systems to better than pre-pandemic levels, ideally within the next 2-3 years. Ending plastic pollution got mentioned in the declaration. Financing Cities of Tomorrow got special mention in the declaration which emphasizes the need for enhanced mobilization of finances and efficient use of existing resources in our efforts to make the cities of tomorrow inclusive, resilient, and sustainable. Artificial intelligence got mentioned in the declaration which says that it promotes responsible AI for achieving SDGs. Women-led development was one of the core issues of discussion and the declaration says that members will promote women’s inclusion into the formal financial system by strengthening their access to economic resources, particularly through digital finance and microfinance. Member countries also agreed on creating a Working Group on the Empowerment of Women. Nothing concrete came on the much anticipated Crypto currency issue.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty visited the Akshardham temple this morning and offered prayers. US President Joe Biden has left for Vietnam after attending the G20 Summit in New Delhi.