Akash Dhanurkar/ Contributor
India kickstarted its one-year-long presidency, taken on from Indonesia in 2022, of the G20 group by hosting a summit. New Delhi hosted its maiden summit on the 17th of January 2023 in Pune, a town in the Maharashtra state of India. The two-day meeting was hosted under the flagship theme of ÔÇ£Financing Cities of Tomorrow- Inclusive, Resilient and SustainableÔÇØ.┬á
Discussions at the meeting included: making cities economic hubs for growth, funding urban infrastructure, creating future-ready infrastructure, the contribution of cities to achieving sustainability goals, managing fiscal investments to unlock private financing for energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable infrastructure, and reducing social inequalities. 
G20 members, which contribute around 85% of the global GDP and 75% of the global trade, have been hosted by 17 presidencies
G20 members, which contribute around 85% of the global GDP and 75% of the global trade, have been hosted by 17 presidencies. India assumed the role from 1st December 2022 and is expected to hold over 200 meetings across 50+ locations in the country in 2023. The finance track built for the G20 summit and meeting concentrated on important topics such as finance for sustainable growth, funding for health care, financing for infrastructure, and financing for policy changes in the financial sector. In addition to two initiatives, G20 EMPOWER (which aims to empower women and accelerate their leadership in the private sector by leveraging alliances between business leaders and G20 countries) and RIIG, the dedicated Sherpa Track shed light on thirteen issues, including anti-corruption, agriculture, the digital economy, and climate change (Research and Innovation Initiative Gathering aims to enhance and strengthen research and innovation collaboration among the G20 member countries).
Reports suggest that there have been no discussions at the summit on building diplomatic solutions to scale down tensions between Russia and the western powers.
India assumed the presidency at a time when the post-pandemic global economic crisis and war in Ukraine by Russia, which is a part of the G20, left the geopolitics in turmoil. The reports suggest that there have been no discussions at the summit on building diplomatic solutions to scale down tensions between Russia and the western powers. The Russian delegation, which was a part of the summit in India, was earlier expected to snub the event amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine, followed by tension with NATO countries.
Image by Paul Kagame via Flickr. Image Licence can be found here. No changes have been made to this image.
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