Guwahati is getting decked up as a bride to welcome G20 delegates for two key meetings in the month of February, the first one being one on sustainable finance under the Finance Track, one of the three work streams under the G20 mandate.
Since India is hosting the Youth20 (Y20) summit for the first time on the side-line of the G20 summit, the first meeting of the Y20 Group shall be held in Guwahati from February 6 to 8. This is the first of the various meetings to be held on the five Y20 themes across India in a run-up to the final Youth-20 Summit in August 2023. Altogether ,18 events under Y20 has been planned in India, the final event of which will be held in Varanasi where deliberations and negotiations on all five themes will take place besides finalisation of the Y20 communique.
More than 250 delegates from across the world are expected to participate in the three-day event in Assam. It will focus on five themes of Future of Work; Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction; Peace Building and Reconciliation; Youth in Democracy and Health, Wellbeing and Sports, and many subthemes under the broad umbrella of the themes. A white paper will also be launched during the programme in Guwahati. There will be panel discussions on the broad themes in which speakers from across the North East and the country have been invited. Couple of publications of scholarly articles and research papers are also being planned as part of the Y20.
Anmol Sovit, Chair of Y20, told Asom Barta over phone that with a very youthful population, India is poised to usher in a new era on the global stage. “Hence, the Y20 has become a very important platform for India to give leadership to the world,” he said.
“The Y20 has become a very
important platform for India to give
leadership to the world”
– Anmol Sovit, Chair, Y20
The events will take place at two major venues: IIT Guwahati and Hotel Radisson Blue. Sources told Asom Barta that Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma has directed officials to leave no stone unturned to make the event a memorable one. A senior Assam Government officer reviewed preparation in a meeting in IIT-G which was also attended by IIT Director and other government department representatives. Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur is expected to be present during one of the days of the event, sources informed this newsletter.
Youth20 is one of the eight official engagement groups under the G20 umbrella. The G20 rotating presidency bears the responsibility of hosting the youth summit, which usually takes place some weeks prior to the traditional forum to know what the youths are thinking and incorporate their suggestions in their own policy proposals.
It is an attempt to create a connecting point between G20 governments and their local youth. The Y20 India Summit in 2023 would exemplify India’s youth-centric efforts and provide an opportunity to showcase its values and policy measures to the youth across the globe.
To create a participative and inclusive deliberation process in the run up to the Y20 meeting, over 50 universities and colleges across Assam will be organising seminars, workshops, debates, and panel discussions in their campuses leading on to the first meeting of the Y20 Group in IIT-G. Over 12,000 college-university students are expected to participate in these events. Each higher education institution has been entrusted to organise awareness drive at 10 nearby schools to sensitise the schools about G-20 groupings and functioning.
In total, 400 students, including prize winners of competitions from various participating Universities/Colleges will participate in the central event at IIT-G on February 7 and will be accordingly mentored for understanding innovations and industry-academia linkages. They will also get an opportunity to interact with the international youth delegates to exchange ideas for a shared future.
