Inaugurated the 9th G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20 Summit) at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarked that a world full of conflict and confrontation is in no one’s interest and that only peace and brotherhood can bring solution to the issues facing mankind.
“A divided world cannot provide solutions to the major challenges facing humanity. This is the time of peace and brotherhood, a time to move together. This is a time for growth and well-being of all. We have to overcome the global trust crisis and move forward with human-centric thinking. We have to look at the world in the spirit of One Earth, One Family, One Future,” PM Modi stated.
The Parliament of India is hosting the 9th G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20 Summit) in line with the G20 theme ‘Parliaments for One Earth, One Family, One Future’. Speakers of Parliaments of G20 members and invitee countries attended the event including the Pan-African Parliament.
Modi, in his address, underlined the importance of wider participation in global decision-making and mentioned that it was behind the proposal to include the African Union in G-20 which was accepted by all the members and expressed happiness over the Pan Africa participation in the P20 Summit.
While emphasizing the significance of debates and deliberations, Modi also said that there can be no better medium than public participation to deal with the world’s challenges. “I have always believed that governments are formed by majority, but the country is run by consensus. Our parliaments and this P20 forum can also strengthen this sentiment”, Prime Minister said and expressed confidence that the efforts to improve this world through debate and deliberations will definitely be successful.
PM Modi informed that India, the world’s largest democracy not only conducts the world’s largest elections, but people’s participation in it is also continuously increasing citing that 600 million voters participated in the 2019 General Election. He also mentioned that the 2019 election witnessed record participation of women.
On the recent decision of reserving 33 percent seats in the Parliament and the state assemblies for women, Prime Minister said that out of more than 3 million elected representatives in the local self-government institutions, almost 50 percent are women. “India today is promoting women’s participation in every sector. The recent decision taken by our Parliament will further enrich our parliamentary tradition”, Prime Minister Modi added.
The thematic sessions during the P20 Summit will focus on the following four subjects – Transformation in People’s Lives through Public Digital Platforms; Women-led development; Accelerating SDGs; and Sustainable Energy Transition.
A pre-summit Parliamentary Forum on LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) was also held on 12 October 2023 to deliberate upon initiatives towards a greener and sustainable future in harmony with nature.
