G20 Nations

South American nation has become a significant contributor to world crude supply

Brazil launched what it called a social summit Thursday ahead of next week's Group of 20 meeting of top economies, the first such event focused on drawing civil society input ahead of the main annual summit. Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said 40,000 people from G20 countries were expected to attend meetings and panels through Saturday in revamped warehouses of downtown Rio de Janeiro's port area and nearby Museum of Tomorrow. The main summit takes place in Rio on Monday and Tuesday. Vieira told the opening ceremony, also attended by other government ministers and First Lady Rosngela da Silva, that the gathering is part of Brazil's G20 agenda to promote sustainable development and green energy, fight poverty and reduce inequality. There couldn't be a discussion or effective measures on this issue without welcoming society's contributions, Vieira said. Proposals developed at the social summit will be summarized in a final document to be presented at the leaders' summit. First lady d

Most G20 members, including the US, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, need to significantly step up climate action, according to a Climate Accountability Matrix launched at COP29 here on Tuesday. The Climate Accountability Matrix (CAM) is a first-of-its-kind assessment tool from the Global South to analyse countries' performance in climate aspects beyond mitigation, including adaptation and means of implementation. As against the rich nations, countries from the Global South, such as India and South Africa have made significant efforts in climate action by actively participating in key agreements, undertaking reasonable efforts domestically and adhering to their obligations, the CAM, featured in a report by independent, New Delhi-based think tank the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), found. The CEEW report Are G20 Countries Delivering on Climate Goals? Tracking Progress on Commitments to Strengthen the Paris Agreement unveiled at the COP29 here introduces

Finance Minister Sitharaman participated in the G7 African Ministerial Roundtable on Saturday (local time), the Ministry of Finance stated

On India's leadership under PM Modi, Ackermann reminisced about India's G20 Presidency and recognised how it was held in a tumultuous time and how India successfully conducted it

It's the first time that the world's 20 largest economies formally agree to make a joint effort to modernise global governance institutions

FAO Blue Transformation strategy aims to ensure aquatic food systems continue feeding the world's growing population

Group of 20 leaders agreed Friday to join efforts to fight disinformation and set up an agenda on artificial intelligence as their governments struggle against the speed, scale and reach of misinformation and hate speech. The ministers, who gathered this week in Maceio, the capital of the northeastern state of Alagoas, emphasised in a statement the need for digital platforms to be transparent and in line with relevant policies and applicable legal frameworks. It is the first time in the G20's history that the group recognises the problem of disinformation and calls for transparency and accountability from digital platforms, Joo Brant, secretary for digital policy at the Brazilian presidency, told The Associated Press by phone. G20 representatives also agreed to establish guidelines for developing artificial intelligence, calling for ethical, transparent, and accountable use of AI, with human oversight and compliance with privacy and human rights laws. "We hope this will be referenc

Speaking from the Red Fort on India's 78th Independence Day, PM Modi reaffirmed India's commitment to achieving 500 GW of non-fossil-based energy capacity by 2030

Finance ministers from leading rich and developing nations agreed Friday to strive toward effectively taxing the super-rich, a joint ministerial declaration said. With full respect to tax sovereignty, we will seek to engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed, the declaration said after the two-day meeting in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has made a proposal to impose a 2% minimum tax on billionaires a top priority of its presidency of the Group of 20, ahead of the Nov. 18-19 summit in Rio. While the final declaration stops short of agreeing on a specific global tax, Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad nevertheless called it a significant step forward. We were always optimistic about this result, but it really exceeded our initial expectations, Haddad told reporters. Brazil's proposal to tax billionaires has divided G20 nations. France, Spain and South Africa have expressed support, while the U.S. is against. Tax policy is very diff

A broader G20 joint communique is expected on Friday, when finance ministers and central bankers conclude this week's meetings in Rio de Janeiro

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is keen on continuing the momentum of Multilateral Development Banks (MDB) reforms initiated during the G20 presidency of India, Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission N. K. Singh has said. Singh, who had met Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York on April 12, said he had a positive interaction with the UN chief. Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed was also present during the meeting. Guterres was very keen on continuing the momentum of MDB reforms initiated during India's G20 Presidency and as contained in the 2 Vol. IEG Report, Singh said in a post on X, referring to the report of the Independent Expert Group. Singh said the report had been accepted by the G20 and, therefore, had ongoing traction. Guterres said that the UN would endeavour to keep this item high on the agenda for the Summit of the Future in September and thereafter in the Summit on Financing for Development in June 2025, Singh said. The ambitious Summit of the Futu

India's G-20 sherpa Amitabh Kant on Thursday said the global future will not be driven by big technology firms but by the digital public infrastructure platforms developed locally. Speaking at the 'We Made in India' event here, Kant said India will transfer its digital public infrastructure (DPI) to the rest of the world, and already there are many examples of countries warming up to the same. The DPI consists of the digital identity through Aadhaar, real time payment through the UPI platform and other services like account aggregator, and was showcased to the world during India's presidency of G-20 last year. Kant said during the G-20, the world accepted the definition and framework of the DPI, given the strides that India has made through its strategies. "During G-20, the world accepted the definition of digital public infra, the world accepted the framework of DPI and to our belief, the future will not be driven by big tech, it will be driven by DPI," he said. It can be noted t

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva has signaled that the fund will also slightly raise its forecast, to be released Tuesday, from the current 3.1 per cent

For the upcoming financial year, the RBI has projected growth of 7 per cent, while the State Bank of India (SBI) revised upwards its projection to 8 per cent

A U.S. regulator last week called for new liquidity rules to cope with outflows over five days

The NDRF has decided to observe 2024 as the year of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) preparedness and response and will undertake training and exercises to attain better capability to deal with such disasters, Director General of the force Atul Karwal said Friday. He was speaking at the Vigyan Bhawan here during the 19th raising day of the federal contingency force. The DG said the Union home ministry, under which the force functions, has sanctioned fresh equipments to it for CBRN combat. The force has procured seven HAZMAT (hazardous material) vehicles during the recently concluded G20 Summit in the national capital for tackling CBRN accidents and disasters. The force, Karwal said, also has trained three teams for tackling forest fires and new equipment for this task are being procured, a job entrusted to the NDRF in 2023. He said the ministry of home affairs has also sanctioned eight new regional response centres (RRCs) for stationing its rescuers in various

With the end of another year, we take a look at the biggest headlines and stories from Indian politics that defined 2023

India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1, 2022

From hosting a successful G20 Summit to rewriting the annals of space exploration and making the world dance to Naatu Naatu, 2023 saw India establish itself as more than a soft power