The G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM), which is scheduled to take place in physical format in New Delhi on March 1-2, 2023 under India’s Presidency, is “one of the largest gatherings of foreign ministers hosted by any G20 Presidency.”
Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra stated in a special briefing on the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, “It is one of the largest gatherings of foreign ministers hosted by any G20 Presidency.”
Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Center will host the G20 FMM. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, India as host, Indonesia as immediate past president and ASEAN chair, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, US (all G20 member countries) are among the 40 delegations expected to attend.
Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the UAE are among the nine guest countries participating at the FM level.
“Besides the participation of these countries which I said comprising of over 40 delegations, this would also include 13 international organisations. Surely, this is one of the largest gatherings of the FMs hosted by any G20 Presidency that we would privilege to host,” said Kwatra.
The G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will take place on Thursday (March 2), but it will kick off on Wednesday night with a gala dinner.
“It will be under the chairmanship of our External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar. This would be the second ministerial meeting being held under our Presidency. The first ministerial meeting has just concluded in Bengaluru, which was of the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meeting,” said Kwatra.
The European Union will chair two sessions of the Foreign Ministers’ meeting on Thursday.
“The first session will focus on multilateralism, and issues related to food and energy. The second session will focus on four or five key issues including new and emerging threats includes counter-terrorism and narcotics, global skill mapping, focus on global talent pools,” said the foreign secretary.
Kwatra also mentioned Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who will not be present at the meeting.
“We understand that the Japanese Foreign Minister is not able to come because of his domestic compulsions but we are looking forward to a very active participation, active support in consultation with the Japanese delegation that is coming,” said Kwatra.
According to a press release from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Foreign Minister Kenji Yamada will visit New Delhi, India, from March 1 to 3, to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
“At this meeting, we will take our position and efforts as Japan, the G7 presidency, on important issues in the current international situation, such as multilateralism, food and energy security, and development cooperation, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues,” said Kenji.
The development comes after Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi skipped a meeting due to a scheduling conflict with a Diet (Japanese parliament) session.
“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” or “One Earth. One Family. One Future,” is the theme of India’s G20 presidency.
