- Shaktikanta Das G20 Sherpa appointed as the 25th governor of the RBI
- As economic affairs secretary from 2015 to 2017, Das has worked closely with the central bank. At present, he is also the government’s representative at the Group of 20 summits.
- A Sherpa is a personal representative of the leader of a member country at an international Summit meeting such as the G8, G20 or the Nuclear Security Summit. The term is derived from the Nepalese Sherpa people, who serve as guides for mountaineers in the Himalayas.
- The Sherpa engages in planning, negotiation and implementation tasks through the Summit. They coordinate the agenda, seek consensus at the highest political levels, and participate in a series of pre-Summit consultations to help negotiate their leaders’ positions.
- Sherpas are career diplomats or senior government officials appointed by the leaders of their countries. There is only one Sherpa per Summit for each member country; he/she is assisted by several sous Sherpas.
- Sherpas meet much before the start of the Summit to iron out differences on various issues.
- At the G20 Summit, work progresses through broadly two channels: the Finance Track and Sherpas’ Track. Towards the end of the process, the Sherpas, along with the Finance Track representatives, prepare the Leaders’ “Declaration” or “Communique”, which is the final outcome of the G20 Summit.
- The Sherpas’ Track involves technical and policy analyses by working groups comprising officials from each member country and international organisations. It focuses on development-oriented issues such as agriculture, fighting corruption, employment, etc.
- The Finance Track is composed of all Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of G20 members, who also meet regularly during the year to analyse global economic problems and to take coordinated actions towards their resolution.
- The G20 Summit is an international forum which is convened annually. The participants are heads of state and government from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Republic of South Africa, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the European Union (EU). In addition, leaders of invited guest countries and representatives of invited guest international organizations participate in the summit along with leaders from the G20 countries.
- The G20 Osaka Summit will be held over two days, on June 28-29, 2019. (Japan)
- The G20 troika system was officially adopted at the Cannes Summit in 2011 as the framework for steering the G20 process. The “troika” consists of the current, previous, and next G20 presidencies and the 3 countries cooperate with one another in preparing for the G20 Summit. During Japan’s presidency, Japan will work closely together with Argentina (2018 presidency) and Saudi Arabia (2020 presidency).