Odisha to host two G20 meets, officers sent on exposure visits

BHUBANESWAR: As Odisha gears up to host two G20 meets on education and culture in April and May, the state government has sent separate teams on exposure visits to some ongoing events in other states to help its officials gain first-hand experience.
Bhubaneswar is scheduled to conduct G20’s Education Working Group meeting from April 24 to 27. The second meeting on culture will be held in the city from May 14 to 17, according to the minute-to-minute plan seen by the TOI. On May 16, the delegates will visit Konark.
Though there was speculation that the G20 meet on culture may be organised at Unesco world heritage site Konark, the Centre has reportedly decided to hold both the meetings at Bhubaneswar.
“We have sent officers from different departments to venues like Amritsar and Udaipur to get an exposure of the conduct of the G20 meetings. This exposure visits will help us organise the ensuing two events smoothly at Bhubaneswar,” said a senior officer of the state industries department, which is the nodal agency to organise the two meetings in Odisha.
Official sources said chief secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena is scheduled to review the state government’s preparations on Thursday for the two G20 sub-committee meetings. Senior officials from almost all departments will attend the high-level preparatory meeting.
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently said the G20 meetings on education and culture will further enrich the state's rich cultural heritage and provide a golden opportunity to the state's vibrant education sphere. After India assumed the year-long G20 presidency on December 1 last year, several states including Odisha were asked to host the pre-summit meets throughout the year. While the first pre-summit meet (Sherpa meeting) started from December 4 to 7 last year at Udaipur, the main summit is scheduled to be held at New Delhi on September 9 and 10 this year.
The G20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising the world’s major developed and developing economies that addresses global economic issues, climate change mitigation and sustainable development. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US, as well as the European Union, are other G20 members.