India invites Bangladesh to G-20 preparatory meeting

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: As India has taken over Presidency of the world’s emerging economy nations grouping, Chief Coordinator of G 20 Secretariat Harsh Vardhan Shringla convened first predatory meeting of the ambassadors and high commissioners of invitee countries.

Md Mustafizur Rahman, High Commissioner of Bangladesh in New Delhi, has been invited to the preparatory meeting.

The meeting will be held in Havelock island of Andaman of India from November 27 to 28.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to be present at the summit’s high table along with other world leaders. Next G 20 summit will be held on September 9-10, 2023 in newly-built convention center of Pragati Maidan in capital New Delhi.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo handed over the Presidency of next summit to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

About the G-20, former Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said before the summit under new Presidency, nearly 200 different meetings on issues relating to various sectors will be held in different states of the country.

After the preparatory meeting of the Ambassadors, first meeting of the G 20 sherpas will take place at Chandigarh on December 1 and several meetings of the invitee countries at places Kashmir to Rann of Kutch and other places, said, Shringla, former Indian High Commission to Bangladesh.

G-20 priorities involve inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth, life style, environment, women’s empowerment, digital public infrastructure and tech-enabled developments in areas ranging from health, agriculture and education to commerce, skill mapping, culture and tourism, climate financing ,circular economy.

The meetings will be on global food security, energy security, green hydrogen, disaster risk reduction and resilience, developmental cooperation and obviously on fight against economic crime and multilateral reforms.

On the very first meeting of the Ambassadors, India wants to showcase its history of freedom from colonial power and for that reason internationally famous tourist destination Havelock Island has been chosen.

In December 2018, the island was renamed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Swaraj Dweep Island as a tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Bose hoisted the Indian flag on December 30, 1943 and proclaimed the Andaman and Nicobar Islands liberated from British rule. Swaraj Dweep is one of the largest islands in Ritchie’s Archipelago to the east of Great Andaman within the Andaman Islands.

The G-20 Secretariat of India is now busy to find accommodation of 40 Ambassadors and High Commissioners in the Island resort. The G-20 is an inter-governmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing countries .It comprises all the five Security Council members of the United Nations, all G-7 countries and all the BRICKS member countries.