Commending India’s G20 Presidency, World Bank President Ajay Banga on Sunday lauded the G20 leaders on their ability to agree on a declaration. He said, “I consider the fact that there was a declaration, a tribute to the fact that the G 20 leadership found a way to give and take and negotiate and find a right way to agree and set a path to the world.” Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Saturday that the G20 leadership has unanimously reached an agreement and adopted the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration.
Banga expressed that he remains optimistic not just about India’s remaining presidency but also about the future presidency of the G20 forum after that. He added that the G20 represents both the developing and developed countries which command about 80 per cent of the world’s GDP. “The world is watching... 80% of the world's GDP was sitting in the room. If they would not agree that would not give a good message. I actually compliment India, its leadership, and the G20 leaders for being able to make sure that a terrific declaration comes out,” he said.
Elaborating on the declaration, the finance ministry’s secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ajay Seth, said the G20 summit was successful in building a consensus on strengthening multilateral developmental banks. Talking about the discussions on technology, Seth added that the discussion was focused on “how we can get help from technology and how crypto technology can be beneficial, what are its policy risks and what should be the regulations around it.”
The secretary noted that while consensus was not achieved on the topic, the government managed to secure strong endorsement from the leaders. Seth added that the third major topic centered around financial inclusion and how it can be enhanced through digital public infrastructure. He further noted that the forum reached a consensus on the progress targets for the next three years on the topic.