The Union Minister of External Affairs Dr S. Jaishankar will chair the G20 Development Ministers’ Meeting which is scheduled to be held between 11-13 June 2023 in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi will deliver a special video address at the beginning of the meeting, under the G20 Indian Presidency.

The Varanasi Development Ministers’ Meeting takes place amidst mounting developmental challenges that have been further aggravated by economic slowdown, debt distress, impacts of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, growing poverty and inequality, food and energy insecurity, cost-of-living crisis, global supply-chain disruptions, and geo-political conflicts and tensions.

The G20 Development Ministerial meeting will be an opportunity to collectively agree on actions for accelerating achievement of the SDGs and foster synergies between the development, environment and climate agendas while avoiding costly trade-offs that hold back progress for the developing countries.

The meeting follows the Voice of the Global South Summit that was hosted by India in January 2023, and the decisions taken at the Varanasi meeting will also contribute to the United Nations SDG Summit which will take place in September in New York. The Development Ministers’ Meeting was preceded by the fourth and final Development Working Group (DWG) Meeting, which was held in Delhi from June 6-9.

The meeting will consist of two main sessions, one on "Multilateralism: Collective Actions for Accelerating Progress towards SDGs” and another on "Green Development: A LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) Approach”.

The DWG, while building on the crucial work done by previous G20 presidencies, has carried forward its mandate of enhancing G20's contribution to accelerating progress towards SDGs and strengthening G20 long-term vision in this regard including by strengthening G20 efforts towards fostering sustainable, inclusive and resilient economic growth.

A total of 200 delegates are expected to attend the meeting. Cultural programmes, exhibitions and excursions have also been organized to provide the delegates a glimpse into the rich culture and traditions of Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world.

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AS