Observer Research Foundation to host T20 Mid-Year Conference today

New Delhi [India], May 10 : The Observer Research Foundation, the Think20 Secretariat under India's G20 Presidency, is all set to host the Think20 Mid-Year Conference in Mumbai on Wednesday.

At the Think20 Mid-Year Conference, Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa; Harsh Vardhan Shringla, chief coordinator (G20); and Sujan Chinoy, Director General of Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) and Chair of T20 India Core Group will be present.

It will also feature eminent members of the think tank, including Ashima Goyal, emeritus professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), India and Manjeet Kripal, executive director, Gateway House, India.

The three-day conference will bring experts and policymakers from the G20 countries onto a common platform to exchange ideas and collaborate on solutions to complex global challenges in health, green growth, technology for development, reformed multilateralism, gender and its interplay with green transitions, and the future of work.

ORF is a leading multidisciplinary think tank with centres in New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and an overseas affiliate in Washington DC. It helps discover and inform India's choices and carries Indian voices and ideas to forums shaping global debates. It provides non-partisan, independent, well-researched analyses and inputs to diverse decision-makers in governments, business communities, academia, and civil society worldwide.

Think20 (T20) is the G20's official engagement group that serves as an 'ideas bank' for the multilateral grouping by bringing together think tanks and high-level experts to discuss policy issues relevant to the G20.

The conference will be a precursor and bridge to the final T20 Summit in August 2023.

At the conference, the discussions and recommendations will be based on the themes of the T20's seven Task Forces. Other crucial topics will also contribute to finalising the T20 Task Force Statements, laying the foundation for the T20 Communique, which will be presented to the G20 Secretariat.

This is the third of four critical convenings by T20 India. The T20 has, thus far, orgsed 40 side events in 17 cities, published 35 short forms, and 20 of the planned 400-plus policy briefs.

The T20 Mid-Year conference also aims to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal of taking G20 to the people of India, especially the youth, women, private sector, academia, and civil society, by prioritising the 'Jan Bhagidari' element of India's G20 Presidency. The conference will be attended by 100 students from schools and colleges across Mumbai and Pune, and will give the youth an opportunity to engage with experts and policymakers from India and the G20 countries and voice their concerns and aspirations for a better, safer and equitable world.

Besides the policy discussions, international delegates and speakers will also engage in mindful yoga sessions orgsed by one of the oldest pioneering yoga institutes in the world, Kaivalyadhama. The institute is globally renowned for its scientific research in yoga to demonstrate its uses and benefits towards holistic well-being.