The G20 Digital Economy Ministers’ meeting concluded today at Bengaluru, fondly called the Silicon Valley of India. The meeting was led by Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Railways, and Communications, Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw. He welcomed, thanked, and appreciated the Ministerial delegations and delegates of G20 members, invited countries and International Organisations, namely World Bank, UNDP, UNESCO, OECD and ITU for their commitment and contribution to deliberations that led to the finalisation and adoption of Outcome Document and Chair’s Summary. 

In the special message, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi spoke about unshakable believe of India in innovation, speedy implementation of DPI, modulated by spirit of inclusion – leaving no one behind. He shared the journey of digital transformation in India and emphasized on the 4Cs - Conviction, Commitment, Coordination, and Collaboration for productive outcomes in the G20 Digital Economy sphere.

 In a historic move, under India’s Presidency, the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial reached a groundbreaking consensus on how to effectively shape Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) of the future.  The G20 Ministers unanimously agreed to the following outcomes related to DPI:

DPI has been collectively adopted by the G20.  DPI is a “set of shared digital systems that should be secure and interoperable and can be built on open standards and specifications to deliver and provide equitable access to public and private services at societal-scale and are governed by legal frameworks and enabling rules to drive development, inclusion, innovation, trust and competition and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

They also agreed to a G20 Framework for DPIs which consist of various components of DPI as well as suggested principles for development and deployment of DPIs. 

All G20 members acknowledged the need for a multistakeholder approach for financial and technical assistance to the countries in the Global South. In this regard, the G20 unanimously welcomed the Indian Presidency’s voluntary initiative of the One Future Alliance that seeks to support the needs of the developing countries for DPI. 

In addition to the agreed outcomes, the G20 Indian Presidency, in a first, has curated pragmatic experiences and launched two knowledge products on DPI in partnership with UNDP to help all countries advance their digital transformation journey, with speed, at scale, and sustainably. The first public resource – Accelerating the SDGs through DPI – is a first of its kind knowledge resource that countries and stakeholders can leverage to accelerate the achievement of SDGs through DPI. The second public resource – The DPI Playbook – is designed as a practical hands-on resource with a first of its kind blueprint that can help countries kickstart their journeys with respect to the technology, governance, and community components of DPI.

Beyond the G20 countries, Guest countries of the Indian Presidency – Nigeria, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Oman, Egypt, UAE, Netherlands, Singapore, and Spain became a part of India Presidency’s endeavour. The outcomes of the Digital Economy Ministerial demonstrated India’s strong commitment to the cause of the Global South and is reflective of the outreach carried by India when the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi hosted the “Voice of the Global South Summit” in January 2023. 

Other key outcomes of the Digital Economy Working Group and Minister’s Meetings include, inter-alia,

Under Indian Presidency of G20, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has been brought as an important approach and as the foundation for digital transformation and sustainable development in the Digital Economy, Consensus in G20 on the deliverables put forward by Indian Presidency on (1) Framework for Systems of Digital Public Infrastructure, (2) One Future Alliance (OFA) for financing DPIs in LMICs,  (3) Global DPI Repository (GDPIR), (4) High-Level Principles to Support Businesses in Building Safety, Security, Resilience and Trust in the Digital Economy, (5) Roadmap to Facilitate Cross Country Comparison of Digital Skills, (6) Toolkit for Designing and Introducing digital Upskilling and Reskilling Programms, (7) Virtual Centre of Excellence Fostering Digitally-Skilled Talent, among other,

Release of ‘DPI - Playbook’ and ‘DPI Compendium for Accelerating the SDGs’ Mainstreaming of the G20’s priority activities among stakeholders and the public by involvement of the experts, practitioners, thinkers from government, industry, startups, academia, etc in the side events/Jan-Bhagidari outreach programmes. MeitY organised massive social media campaigns, organized various seminars, competitions and other citizen participatory activities for two major themes namely, ‘Stay Safe Online Campaigns’ and ‘Digital Innovation Alliance’. Stay Safe Online campaigns alone touched more than 8 Crores citizens through various social media platforms and websites and this campaign also ran in the G20 and invited countries. 

Further, Digital Innovation Alliance, that culminated in Bangalore, saw the participation of more than 100 startups from 23 countries and 5,500+ people. Top 30 startups from G20 & invited countries were awarded.

Letter of Intent between UNESCO and NIELIT was signed for Capacity Building and Advanced Training, and,  Showcase of India’s soft power in terms of richness of Indian culture, Indian cuisine, Indian arts, and folk forms.

The outcome document adopted today is available at resource section of the portal - https://www.g20.org/en/

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