The Union Cabinet on Tuesday set in motion the process to build a Secretariat that will look after the affairs of organising the G20 summit in 2023. India will steer the international body as its President from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023, which will lead to the G20 summit to be hosted here.
A government notification said: “As per practice, a G20 Secretariat is being established to handle work relating to substantive/knowledge/content, technical, media, security and logistical aspects of India’s G20 Presidency. It will be manned by officers and staff from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and other relevant line Ministries/Departments and domain knowledge experts.”
The Secretariat will be functional till February 2024.
An “apex committee” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the head, and the Ministers of Finance, Home and External Affairs, will provide guidance to the planning. The committee will also include Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who is the current the “G20 Sherpa” conducting international negotiations at the level of G20.
“The G20 Secretariat will enable long term capacity building, including knowledge and expertise, for India’s leadership on global issues in multilateral fora,” the official announcement stated.
