Date And Time – 6th July 2023 | 5:15 PM – 6:30 PM
India is a strong pillar of the developing world, and, therefore, assuming the chairmanship of the G20 offers several implications. India aims to champion the concerns of the Global South during its G20 presidency. Thus, this session will focus on how to provide the global south with relief on healthcare, debt, digital infrastructure, supply chains and other developmental issues to ensure that these countries have more room to manoeuvre and wider options to avoid becoming embroiled in the great power politics of the time, while championing third world solidarity.
SPEAKERS
Ambassador Gurjit Singh, Former Ambassador of India to Germany, Indonesia, Ethiopia, ASEAN and the African Union
Ambassador Singh is the author of 5 books including on Japan, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Germany and Africa. He comments on current events on TV and in journals with a special focus on development cooperation. His report on Trilateral Cooperation in 2019, focused on private sector engagement to make trilaterals successful.
He is associated with the social impact investment movement and is working on expanding it in Africa along with other trilateral initiatives. He is an independent director of companies achieving social impact. He is associated with civil society efforts through the Aavishkar Foundation, and the Advisory Council of Nobel Peace Laureate, Kailash Satyarthi.
Ms Archna Vyas, Deputy Director, Advocacy, Communications and Behavioural Insights, India Country Office, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Archna Vyas works in the foundation’s India Office, overseeing program advocacy, communications, and social and behavior change efforts that advance the foundation’s goals and impact. She joined the foundation in 2014, bringing with her experience in consumer and purpose-driven marketing and communications for multi-brand, multi-country portfolios.
Before joining the foundation, Archna spent nearly a decade leading media relations, communications, and digital marketing across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa for Reckitt’s 30-plus health, hygiene, and home brands. She also spent many years in the advertising industry, where she held various leadership positions and supported the launch and growth of many consumer goods brands in India.
Archna serves on the World Health Organization’s Technical Advisory Group on Behavioral Insights as well as the governing body of the South Asia Learning Collaborative, an initiative focused on advancing social norms based at Georgetown University’s Institute for Reproductive Health.
Moderator
Subhomoy Bhattacharjee, Adjunct Faculty, Jindal School of Journalism and Communication, and Consulting Editor, The Business Standard
Subhomoy Bhattacharjee is Consulting Editor at the Business Standard newspaper. He works on public policy, primarily finance, energy and geostrategic issues. He also comments on current economic issues at On Point with Subhomoy Bhattacharjee. His book “India’s Coal Story”, traces why since Independence, Indian business and government could not settle the rights on energy security, creating the murky politics of coal–& sketches the options for India’s future energy security. He graduated from Shri Ram College of Commerce and did his post graduation in Economics from Delhi School of Economics. He was in the Govt of India as part of the Indian Information Service. His thoughts on civil services is in “The Difficulty of Being Gajendra Haldea”, whose contributors include Dr Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia and in “Transforming the Steel Frame; Promise and Paradox of Civil Service Reform”—a collection of essays on Indian bureaucracy, edited by former CAG, Vinod Rai. Subhomoy is also Senior Adjunct Fellow with Delhi based think tank Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and Coordinator, Centre for Maritime Economy and Connectivity. He is Adjunct Faculty at OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat teaching economics and regulatory issues.
