Dignitaries from around the world will deliberate on ways to build “sustainable, inclusive and resilient cities for tomorrow” as the first G-20 Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency kicks off in Pune on Monday.
A day ahead of the two-day meet, the Union government on Sunday said that it has carefully chosen the topic, considering its relevance for the entire world.
“Urbanisation is a very strong phenomenon globally. Developed economies are also facing newer challenges with regard to climate and (dealing with) need for transition to green energy and how to become net zero energy. All the themes are relevant to everybody, (be it) developed countries, developing ones and counties that are yet to take off in the urbanisation sphere,” said Solomon Arokiaraj, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.
The inaugural session will be launched by Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Narayan Rane.
During India’s G20 presidency, the IWG will be used as a forum to discuss the challenges that cities face and opportunities they will bring in the near future while charting out a course that makes them more liveable.
Over the course of next two days, various official meetings and cultural programmes are scheduled in the city. On January 16, in the first half, IWG delegates will undertake a series of official meeting and discuss the 2023 Infrastructure Agenda. After lunch, the delegates would visit the Pune University for tree plantation, followed by a high-level workshop on “Financing Cities of Tomorrow”. The day will conclude with a networking dinner.
On January 17, the IWG will deliberate on four sessions, followed by a vote of thanks to the delegates. The two-day meeting in Pune will be concluded by a farewell dinner.
“Main theme of this discussion is going to be how to build cities of tomorrow that are sustainable, resilient and inclusive,” Arokiaraj said.
“Digital is a very inclusive tool that we are considering in the meet because of the utility of technology in urban planning as well as (its role as) an enabler in service delivery so that everybody avails the service in equitable manner,” Arokiaraj added.
He said the topic of sustainability was important as growth in urban centres has led to a lot of pressure on natural ecosystem like land and water.
“Ability of a city to withstand any shock whether it is due to a climatic factor or an economic situation will be discussed. How should a city respond and recover faster? All this will be under consideration,” Arokiaraj said, adding the need for inclusivity was to ensure that the cities have accessible services for all citizen equally.
On the workshop “Financing Cities of Tomorrow”, he said, “Currently, major source of urban development globally is government funding. There is a need to attract private sector finance as well as multi-lateral institutions along with creative ways of financing cities’ development like Transit Oriented Development (ToD) and Land Value Capture. Newer ways of financing cities will be discussed. Global experiences will be shared in the meet and we can also learn from it.”
