Second G20 framework working group meeting underway; chaired by India, UK

The ongoing secondG20 Framework Working Group Meeting chaired by the chief economic advisors from India and UK will focus on the macroeconomic impact of food and energy insecurity, climate change and energy transition pathway(from fossil to non-fossil fuels), said India's Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), V Anantha Nageswaran. Being held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 24th and 25th March, the meeting will have delegates taking part from G20 nations, international and regional organisations. This is the second G20 Working group meeting to be held in the southern Indian city, in February the city hosted the maiden education working group meeting.

India's CEA said that the group will discuss Global macroeconomic issues of relevance today and deliberate on International Policy Cooperation and the means to strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. He added that this meeting was for exchanging information and experience on how different nations deal with food and energy insecurity issues, the results that each approach yielded, its unintended consequences etc. This is a senior bureaucrat-level meeting that is meant to facilitate communication, recognize problems and work on solutions.

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Citing an example, the CEA mentioned how developed nations used fossil fuels to power their growth over the last two or more centuries and now want developing nations to make a switch to renewable energy and reduce emissions.

"To reduce dependence on fossil fuels and sustain with renewable energy, a nation needs rare-earth elements and critical minerals. This raised questions about when we can switch, the financial means to do so and how long this transition will take? What happens to existing fuel refineries, what happens to coal mines and thermal power plants ?" We will talk about how the energy transition(from fossil fuels to non-fossil) can be managed and how long the impact of this will last. He added that it was not necessary for every participating nation to accept the recommendations raised at the meeting.

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When WION queried about India's announcement of finding 5.9mn tons of lithium reserves in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir and whether it would feature in the discussions, the CEA said that this particular grouping would not deal with that. However, he added that the time period from discovery to exploration, mining, extraction and commercial applications of such rare earth elements would at least take 10-15 years.

Speaking about the outcomes of this meeting, he said that the inputs generated in the two-day event would be shared at the G20 finance ministers, central bank governors meet that is to be held in Washington DC, during the second week of April.

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