Union Minister for MSME Narayan Rane inaugurates Infrastructure Working Group’s first meeting in Pune

By Payel Banarjee

Pune, Jan 16: The first meeting of the Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) under India’s G20 Presidency got underway in Pune on the 16th of January. Union Minister for MSMEs, i Narayan Rane welcomed the delegates and made the opening remarks at the inaugural session of the 2 day meeting.

Three sessions and one workshop were organized on the first day of the meeting which was attended by IWG member countries and guest countries and international organizations invited by India to deliberate on the Infrastructure Agenda 2023 under India’s G20 Presidency. The IWG meeting is being hosted by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India along with Australia and Brazil as the co- chairs.

Welcoming the G20 delegates to his home state Maharashtra, Shri Narayan Rane spoke about the initiatives taken by the Government of India under the leadership of PM Modi. He also said that the G20 is an important organisation for long-term and sustainable economic growth. He said, “The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to make India the fifth largest economy in the world and this conference being held in Pune is very important in the context of the country’s progress.”

A high-level workshop on ‘Financing Cities of the Future’ was also organized during the meeting. In this workshop, relevant topics related to technical and managerial capacities for building cities of the future, investors’ views on growing private financing and financial capacity needs of upcoming cities were discussed.

Apart from meetings and discussions, local handicrafts, textiles, handmade products from Maharashtra were put on display at an exhibitions organised for the G20 delegates who have been completely mesmerised by Pune’s hospitality and culture.

The G20 meeting was preceded by a number of Jan-Bhagidari initiatives by the Pune Municipal Corporation and other Pune city stakeholders, including lectures on G20, seminar on ‘Making Cities Future Ready and Importance of Urban Development’, a G20 cyclothon, a motorbike rally on National Youth Day, swachhata drive and model G20 discussions in the educational institutions. The initiative aims to involve people from all walks of life in the whole discussions happening around the G20 meeting.