Virtual meeting — 25-26 February 2022
The Ministry of Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia has organized the first Development Working Group (DWG) meeting under Indonesia’s G20 Presidency. The meeting was held on 24-25 February 2022 in Jakarta and attended by G20 member countries’ and several international organizations’ delegates. Furthermore, this year’s DWG meetings are not only attended by member countries, also attending were a number of invited countries such as Singapore, The Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates, as well as 18 International Organizations and Multilateral Development Banks.
In line with the theme for the Indonesia’s G20 Presidency this year “Recover Together, Recover Stronger” as well as its role and mandates in narrowing the development gap and fostering SDGs achievements, the DWG under the Indonesia’s G20 Presidency has proposed four priorities to gather ideas that could serve as a guidance on global recovery and resilience, and on the achievement of SDGs in the Decade of Action which was then discussed throughout the two-days long meeting.
During the meeting, the DWG discussed its first priority: “Strengthening Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic and Ensuring Resilience in Developing Countries, LDCs, and SIDS.” Under this issue, the DWG raised three key pillars that are centered on a set of key focus areas namely (1) Economic Pillar: MSMEs and Informal Sector; (2) Social Pillar: Adaptive Social Protection; and (3) Environment Pillar: Green Economy and Blue Economy through Low Carbon Development. The DWG also discussed its second priority on the same day: “Scaling up Private and Blended Finance Implementation for Sustainable Development in Developing Countries, LDCs, and SIDs.”
On the second day of the meeting, discussions on the second G20 Development Ministerial Meeting were raised. Following the Italian G20 Presidency that held the first G20 Development Ministerial Meeting, the Indonesian Presidency will continue the work and hold the second DWG Ministerial Meeting discussing the DWG third priority: “Renewing Global Commitment to Multilateralism for Sustainable Development.” Alongside that, discussions were also held on the DWG fourth priority: “Coordinating SDGs Achievements Progress in the G20 and Updating on the G20 Development Commitment.”
Complementary to the First DWG Meeting, the Ministry of Development Planning also hosted a number of side events to introduce the Indonesian G20 Presidency’s priorities on the DWG: First a seminar on “Adaptive Social Protection for Mitigating Risks and Responding to Crisis” and followed by a seminar on “Navigating Challenges and Optimizing Opportunities in Green and Blue Economy Implementation in Developing Countries, LDCs, and SIDS.” Through the series of side events, Indonesia seeks to gather important insight and views from various distinguished speakers, which will be important input for The G20 effort for Stronger Recovery and to set the context of the discussion in the meeting.
The key takeaway of the First DWG Meeting is that there is an urgency to address and find solutions to the global developmental challenges to safely exit the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve the 2030 Agenda, not only to recover better but also to be resilient to face future challenges.