Chennai, July 26 (UNI) Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate

Change Secretary Ms Leela Nandan on Wednesday inaugurated the 3-day

G-20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG)

meeting in Chennai.

Recalling the past three meetings, she said "We started with the circulation

of the Working Group Issue Note and Concept Notes of various thematic

topics in January.

The 1st ECSWG meeting took place in February, wherein we got together

in person to ideate on the priorities of this working group and expectations

from G20 countries.

In March, the India Presidency circulated the outline of the Outcome document

followed by detailed deliberations during the 2nd ECSWG meeting in the same

month.

Incorporating inputs shared by countries, the first draft of the Outcome

document was developed and circulated in April. Thereafter, virtual and

in-person line by line deliberations took place during the 3rd ECSWG

meeting.

"Following the 3rd ECSWG meeting, we have met for more than 40 virtual

line by line negotiations on the Outcome document and outcome documents,

with more than 300 hours of negotiations", Ms Leela Nandan said.

She said more than 100 delegates from all G20 countries, invited nations

and international organisations have contributed immensely towards the

outcomes of this working group.

"This is a testament to the unwavering commitment we have, to fight the

interconnected challenges of climate and environment and we get one final

opportunity in this concluding meeting of the working group to meet with

success, under the G20 India Presidency", she said.

Besides the Outcome document, the Indian Presidency under this working

group has produced rich documentation in the form of compendiums of best

practices and technical documents.

"I thank countries and International Organisations for their contributions

towards these Presidency documents and I hope that these will aid nations

and organisations to suitably utilize findings from the studies", she said.

The sessions of today and tomorrow have been planned with a view to discuss

the ECSWG Outcome document, and in order to best optimize the available time,

parallel discussions for climate and environment have been organized.

"We must consolidate our collective hard work till now, to aid our Ministers

in shaping an Ambitious, Inclusive, Action-Oriented and Decisive Statement

of Intent at the Ministerial meeting of July 28, that well represents the

leadership position of the G20 nations to the rest of the world, Ms Leena

said.

Seeking the support from delegates in forging consensus on the Outcome document

during the proceedings of the next two days, Ms Leena, on behalf of the Indian

Presidency, put forth a set of requests that include Acceptance on previously

aligned multilaterally agreed language; Avoidance of reopening text that is

already aligned via our virtual sessions, highlighted in green and Non insertion

of new topics into the present draft of Outcome document.

"At this stage, we have some remaining issues that require to be resolved over

today and tomorrow across various sections of the Outcome document and it is

critical that we together identify solutions for agreement. I am confident that

all delegates share this sentiment and will fully cooperate on ensuring that

our collective efforts over the last seven months come to a fruitful and

meaningful conclusion through a successful Outcome document", she added.

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