India's G20 presidency was really impressive on SDGs: OECD Sherpa

CAPE TOWN: India's presidency was "really impressive" on the SDGs, Digital Public Infrastructure, development and climate finance among others, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Sherpa, Andreas Schaal, said here on Sunday.

"I think India's presidency delivered impressive results. We are living in complex geopolitical challenges, and at this moment, it's crucial to keep formats like the G20 together and actionable. India's presidency was really impressive on the SDGs, Digital Public Infrastructure, development, climate finance...," OECD Sherpa for the G20, G7 and APEC told ANI.

Further highlighting the inclusion of the African Union as a permanent G20 member, Schaal said that it is important to increase African voices. He added that the OECD has also signed an MoU with the African Union to deepen their exchanges.

"We always supported the African Union being the 21st member of the G20... So I think it's important to increase African voices. We also at the OCD have just signed an MoU with the African Union to deepen our exchanges. We have signed an MoU, a joint work programme with South Africa. So we are also expanding our reach and cooperation. And that's why we're very delighted to see the African Union around the table," Schaal told ANI after addressing on Day 2 of the Cape Town Conversation event.

The African Union is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The move to include the African Union in the G20 grouping was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this June.

PM Modi in his opening remarks at the 18th G20 Leaders' Summit, invited the African Union, represented by Chairperson Azali Assoumani, to take a seat at the table of G20 leaders as a permanent member.

"With everyone's approval, I request the AU head to take his seat as a permanent G20 member," Modi said in his address. Following PM Modi's announcement, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar accompanied the President of the Union of Comoros and Chairperson of the African Union (AU), Azali Assoumani, as he took his seat among world leaders. Moreover, OECD Sherpa Schaal emphasised that climate and SDG finance are the crucial challenges of their times.

"We lost during COVID-19 quite a number of resources to finance the SDGs. For the COP and for climate, we are tracking the 100-billion-dollar commitment of advanced economies to developing countries. We are showing that there is progress. We are showing that there's still a bit more to be done," he stated.

He further said that he is working with the respective presidencies of India and Indonesia to develop G20 blended finance principles. "We believe it's crucial and we are also serving as secretariats for the Paris Finance Summit to bring more private capital into the game, to leverage public and private money and that's why I've been working with the respective presidencies of Indonesia and India to develop G20 blended finance principles to work on that," he added.