PM Modi meets officials at G20 secretariat, lauds their ‘hard work’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an impromptu visit to the G20 Secretariat at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan on Tuesday and interacted with the officers who had been on duty for the summit in New Delhi. He also thanked the officials for their “hard work” in the success of the G20 summit.

The Prime Minister interacted with all levels of staff, including officers, of the Ministry of External Affairs and discussed their G20 experience.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar accompanied the Prime Minister during the visit.

As many as 114 lead officers from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) were deployed on G20 duty under the guidance of the G20 Sherpa for India, Amitabh Kant, and Chief Coordinator Harsh Shringla. Additionally, 140 young officers were also inducted in August from all services to assist in organising the summit.

Senior officials of MEA played key roles in negotiating with various member states to reach a consensus for the joint communique.

The G20 Leaders Summit under India’s presidency was held in New Delhi on September 9-10. The Member countries adopted the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration where consensus was achieved on all issues, including the divisive Russia-Ukraine issue, making it a historic win for India’s presidency.

The success was the result of non-stop negotiations that spanned over 200 hours, involving 300 bilateral meetings, and iterating through 15 drafts.

According to Amitabh Kant, members of his team, including senior MEA officials Abhay Thakur, Nagaraj Naidu, Ashish Sinha, and Eenam Gambhir, played a formidable role in coming up with a conclusive draft document.