Counter-terror, COVID crisis, black money issue to be our focus at G20 virtual summit, says Suresh Prabhu

Counter-terror, COVID crisis, and black money issue will be India's focus at the G20 virtual summit that will take place over the weekend on November 21 and 22, India's Sherpa for G20, Suresh Prabhu, said. Speaking exclusively to our diplomatic correspondent, Sidhant Sibal, Prabhu said, "We are looking at anti-terrorism strategy as a very comprehensive, all-pervasive idea that we should put together."

Indian Prime Minister will be participating in the virtual meet, which will see a special focus on a joint strategy on how to deal with the COVID pandemic. The virtual summit will be the third major virtual summit Indian PM will attend this month after participating in the SCO and the BRICS meeting.

This is for the first time that the G20 summit will take place virtually due to the COVID crisis. India will host the summit in 2022, for which Suresh Prabhu said, "We are already working on very high-tech, very state-of-the-art efficient secretariat."

Q: What are the main issues India will be talking about?

Suresh Prabhu: The first issue is the pandemic itself. 200 countries, 200 geographies right now are suffering from the pandemic. As a result of that, the first focus of the summit is the pandemic. How do you deal with public health and what can global cooperation lead to, if there is a vaccine, to avoid such pandemics in the future, how do you have an early warning system, how do you have a surveillance system, and what kind of protocol you must put in place? These are the kind of issues we will be discussing. The second issue is the economy as a result of the pandemic but not just because of that. It only hastened the process. Even before the pandemic hit the world, in 2019, we witnessed the slowing down of the global economy. How do you deal with making the economy work better and faster? This is the second important issue. Issues such as terror, climate change, and global cooperation on money laundering are present. Saudis have taken certain initiatives, which includes dialogue on water. This is an important issue for Saudis. They have also taken an important initiative on the environment, that is circular economy. You know, in the next few years' time, we will have the challenge of how you deal with the materials. The one side of the problem is how do you find enough to produce more, the second problem is how do you deal with the used material, and how do you dispose of them. That is why the circular economy plays an important role. This is at the heart of the industrial part of environmental concerns. We have been strongly talking about the anti-corruption issue. The PM is particularly keen on dealing with that issue.

Q: How much will the black money issue be raised?

Suresh Prabhu: It is an important ongoing agenda. The PM has been raising it since 2014 when he attended the G20 summit the first time in Brisbane in Australia. He has been raising the issue continuously. We have been raising it at every forum. We will take it forward. Another issue that will dominate is the future of the WTO. As a country, we strongly believe in multilateralism and a rules-based trading system. We believe and support that the WTO being a democratic institution as well as a participatory forum, it should be strengthened and not be weakened, and in that context as the commerce minister, I have held 2 mini-ministerial in India. Once after the collapse of the Buenos Aires ministerial, I held one in New Delhi in March 2018, which was attended by 57 countries. The second one was in April 2019, focusing again on this issue of how to make WTO work better, stronger, and become more effective. That will again dominate the issue.

Q: Terror has been dominating the global concern, how much will New Delhi raise it?

Suresh Prabhu: This is an important issue we keep discussing and keep pressing. How do you deal with terrorism as a global phenomenon? Why do you need global action, also collation against terrorism globally? It needs technology and it needs cutting out support for financing terrorism. It is going to be the root cause of terrorism, which actually breeds such ideas into the minds of innocents. We are looking at anti-terrorism strategy as a very comprehensive, all-pervasive idea that we should put together.

Q: How much has been different for you as a Sherpa in your talks with other Sherpas in this year when the virtual is the new normal?

Suresh Prabhu: It is absolutely true that physical meetings have become very less but that doesn't mean that the proximity has gone. The physical proximity is less but the closeness has even increased because, with the new medium, we can actually have a virtual discussion with everybody. I have spoken to each and every Sherpa, and many more. At least 30-40 countries have been meeting me and talking regularly. We have been doing this, talking regularly, and we will continue to engage with the rest of the world via all means and when we become part of the troika in the next few days on December 1. We will continue to hold that position in 2023 even one year after we hand it over to Indonesia. We will continue to engage with it.

Q: India will host the summit in 2022. Have we started the preparations?

Suresh Prabhu: We have started the preparations in full swing. It is led by our PM Modi. He is a very hands-on leader of the country and we are already working on a very high-tech, very state-of-the-art efficient secretariat in which there will be a number of ministries participating. We will also plan a number of events in 2022 that will involve the state governments and a number of engagement groups like universities, research institutions, NGOs, scientists, and business leaders. We have already started working on it aggressively.