B20 needs to look beyond bottomline, lift up most deprived: Suresh Prabhu
Oct 07, 2020
New Delhi [India], October 7 : Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday said that B20, an engagement group of businesses from G-20 member nations, needs to look beyond the bottom line and lift up the most deprived sections of society.
"B20 needs to look beyond the bottom line and lift up the most deprived sections of society. This was stated by Suresh Prabhu, Member of the Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and India's Sherpa to G20 and G7 while addressing the Inaugural Session on Digital Conference on B-20 Global Dialogue in India organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in cooperation with Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries (RIS), the Indian National Science Academy and the B20 Saudi Arabia Secretariat today. B20 is the business engagement group of G20," said a statement from the CII.
According to Suresh Prabhu, the COVID-19 pandemic had helped the world realise what was wrong with it and how to course-correct.
He highlighted that efforts needed to be taken collectively by the G20 if the world was to achieve the Strategic Development Goals by 2030 and Carbon Neutrality by 2050.
He highlighted the key role played by technology during the COVID pandemic and stated that technology would be a major focus area for the G20 going forward especially in areas such as healthcare, digital economy, trade promotion as well as creation of Global Value Chains. Other important focus areas for the G20 include infrastructure development and agriculture.
Prabhu stated that CII often acts like a think-tank and provides timely inputs to facilitate policy formulation. He stated that he looked forward to CII doing a great job in B20 as well.
Yousef Al-Benyan, Chairman, B20 Saudi Arabia highlighted the fact that B20 Saudi Arabia took a long term view of global economic development and did not only consider the short term implications of the COVD-19 pandemic. He stated that through the year, B20 Saudi Arabia made 25 policy recommendations and 69 policy actions.
Rahul Chhabra, Secretary, Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs while highlighting the role played by India in helping nations in need during the COVID-19 crisis with medicines and medical equipment stated that G20 now needs to develop a vision for the post Covid era. He stated that India's approach to its Presidency in 2022 would be one of continuity and confidence.
Dr. Saud Mohammed Alsati, Ambassador, Embassy of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Republic of India stated that a key focus of G20 this year was to restart global growth in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To this end, the G20 leaders have agreed to suspend debt service repayments from select low income countries. Saudi Arabia, on its part had committed US$ 500 million towards global efforts to help combat the pandemic.
