The third Annual Lecture of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) was held on Friday and Amitabh Kant, G20<\/a> Sherpa, Government of India, spoke on the \u2018Role of Business in G20\u2019. Amitabh Kant was welcomed on the stage by Mr. TS Vishwanath, Director General, Past President, and Founding Member, of PAFI.<\/p>\n Mr. Kant began the lecture by sharing the context in which India has taken over the G20 presidency, where there are multiple crises facing the world\u2014economic, inflation, geo-political, energy, global debt, war, and post-COVID impact.<\/p>\n He said,\u00a0 \u201cTo my mind, every crisis has a huge opportunity and G20<\/a> in the past has demonstrated the ability to deliver in times of adversity,\u201d he said. Amitabh Kant said, \u201cIndia\u2019s focus would be on highlighting the need to address the climate crisis, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals\u2019 (SDG), global debt, geopolitical tensions, and the ensuing food and energy crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed out that there will be a renewed push for green development and climate finance, with the concept of Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) woven in. Spending a considerable time talking about the climate crisis, Mr. Kant said, \u201cThe promise of climate finance is not being lived up to by the developed world. It is important to have the flow of resources from multilateral institutions, besides the USD 100 billion funding from the developed countries.\u00a0 Nudging them is a key part of the agenda of the Prime Minister.\u201d<\/p>\n He reiterated that another key focus area for the Prime Minister is an emphasis on women-led development. \u201cThe challenge is to ensure that we break out of the cycle of malnutrition, improving health outcomes, especially of pregnant women, and ensure greater levels of financial inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n Detailing the roadmap for the year, Mr. Kant said, \u201cThere will be 215 events in 56 cities of India, so this will also be a massive opportunity for states, cities, to drive business as well as soft power through culture, travel, tourism, handicrafts.\u201d<\/p>\n Nearing the end of his speech, he stressed the importance of the 4Ds\u2014demographics, digitization, decarbonization, and de-globalization. \u201cMost importantly, though, we need to de-monopolize the world, and it is for the Indian businesses to use the opportunity of G20 to do that,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n About PAFI, he said, PAFI is dedicated to raising and maintaining standards in Public Affairs to enable the profession to attain recognition and credibility by bringing in a paradigm shift in the way businesses engage with stakeholders – Government, Media, Civil Society, and Academia. It acts as a cross-sector networking platform for public affairs professionals and provides opportunities to benefit from interactions with one other as well as with key policymakers and influencers through evidence-based research, closed-door dialogues, and interactive panel discussions.<\/p>\n Shri Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa, Government of India, begins 3rd Annual Annual Lecture of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) in New Delhi, on the \u2018Role of Business in G20\u2019. pic.twitter.com\/p1jiqWySbM<\/a><\/p>\n — Public Affairs Forum of India (@PAFIIndia) January 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n