PM Modi highlights focus on transparency, re-skilling in post-COVID world at G20 Summit

Addressing the 15th G20 summit convened by Saudi Arabia, PM Narendra Modi on Saturday termed the COVID-19 pandemic as the biggest challenge for the world since World War-II, calling for decisive action by the G20 in terms of economic recovery as well as preserving planet earth. Mapping his vision for the post-Corona world, PM Modi listed four key elements - creating a talent pool, ensuring technology reach, transparency in governance, and dealing with Earth with trusteeship. The 15th G20 summit titled ‘Realizing opportunities of the 21st century for all’ was attended virtually by the 19 member state heads, EU, invited countries, and international organisations.

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PM Modi's address at G20 summit

Calling for a shift in focus, PM Modi highlighted the focus on multi-skilling and reskilling to enhance human dignity and prepare citizens to face crises. Calling for action to preserve Earth as 'trustees rather than owners', he urged to set a per capita carbon footprint as a benchmark. The PM also suggested the creation of a G20 virtual secretariat as 'Work From Anywhere' is the new normal in the post-COVID world. The 15th G20 summit will continue on November 22, where the presidency will be passed from Saudi Arabia to Italy.

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15th G20 Summit

Saudi Arabia became the first Arab nation to host the two-day virtual G20 Summit with world leaders uniting to discuss the efforts in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic and the prevailing economic charges on November 21-22. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have already delivered their keynote addresses about how to minimise the repercussions of the global health crisis that has rocked the world since the beginning of the year. The yearly summit that was viewed as the opportunity for leaders to interact one-on-one has been diminished to remote interaction in the wake of the pandemic.

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Apart from PM Modi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump were among the ones who delivered their remarks. G20 President Saudi Arabia noted that the member countries have contributed more than $21 billion for the production and distribution of vaccines along with injecting a separate amount of $11 trillion to protect the plunging global economy. Furthermore, G20 has also launched the debt suspension initiative for the least developed nations.

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