“B-20’s role has become extremely important as we stand united in our conviction for sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and it is imperative to sustain the momentum for rebuilding as well as reconstructing our health, economic, financial, and social systems by following an approach that effectively tackles short term disruptions along with long term adjustments”, mentioned Shri K Rajaraman, Additional Secretary (Investment & IER), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India while addressing the Opening Session at Conference on B-20 Italy Global Dialogue in India today organised by Confederation of Indian Industry.

Mr Rajaraman appreciated B-20 Italy in its claim to reshape the future by constituting focussed Task Forces such as Task Force on Trade & Investment, Task Force on Employment & Education, Task Force on Digital Transformation and Task Force on Health & Life Sciences.

“Collective efforts are indispensable for global recovery processes and to that end G-20 has become important in shaping policy discourse, building resilience against future pandemics, and supporting recovery in a post COVID-19 era” stated Mr Rajaraman. Stressing on the need for a more calibrated approach, Mr Rajaraman mentioned that the world economy is experiencing exceptionally strong recovery but with downside risks, arising from limited fiscal space, emerging supply chain bottlenecks, rising energy prices, new variants of COVID-19 and varied paces of vaccination, among others.

Mr Sanjiv Bajaj, President Designate, CII said that B-20 has been responsible for seeding several innovative and timely ideas to the G-20. B-20’s call to leaders for focusing on digital trade, developing guidelines for green finance, mainstreaming SMEs into the global economic-rule making and integrity & compliance are a few examples.

Mr Bajaj affirmed that CII is fully committed to the G-20-B-20 process to get the necessary buy-in from the Indian Industry. He highlighted that CII has been actively contributing since the last many years, towards this process by way of background research, policy inputs, outreach programs, forums, and visits, along with intense engagement with the Global Business Coalition and the B-20 Secretariat of the country holding the G20 Presidency.

Ms Emma Marcegaglia, Chair, B-20, Italy, stated that the utmost important challenge of the hour is to make strong policy recommendations to move towards the growth that is more inclusive and sustainable. Going forward, special focus needs to be given to areas such as Energy, Health Infrastructure, Technology & Innovation, Social Sustainability and Economic Sustainability. While stressing on the importance of B-20, Ms Marcegaglia highlighted that a multilateral approach is the future and the business community has an important role to play in terms of investment, capacity building, global climate change, innovation, and health care.

Mr Deep Kapuria, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on International Trade and Trade Policy mentioned that India’s upcoming Presidency of the G20 in 2023, is a significant marker for the country. As India will be assuming G20 Presidency by the end of 2022, it will have to join the troika with the Italy and Indonesia by the end of the current year 2021. India’s Presidency in 2023 will be a unique opportunity for India to shape the agenda for global economic and trade governance according to its own priorities and ideas.

The Conference also witnessed the participation of other eminent panelists including Ms Rupa Dutta, Senior Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India; Ms Barbara Beltrame, Chair, Task Force on Trade & Investment; Mr Gianpietro Benedetti, Chair, Task Force on Employment & Education; Mr Mikael Bäck, Deputy Co-Chair, Task Force on Digital Transformation, and Mr Mark Caulfield, Co-Chair, Task Force on Health & Life Sciences.

The Conference on B-20 Italy Global Dialogue witnessed participants from across Industry, multilateral organisations, academia, and media, among others.

13 September 2021