Mumbai, Dec 15 (PTI) India has set "ambitious priorities" on the developmental front to G-20 members, and its presidency has got off to an excellent start with parleys in the financial capital, officials said on Thursday.

Fast-tracking attainment of sustainable development goals (SDG) in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, using data for developmental priorities and helping the planet by smart consumption under the 'life' agenda are the crux of ideas presented to delegates, they added.

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"We had substantial discussions... it's been a very fruitful exercise and Mumbai has been an excellent beginning for India's G-20 presidency and also for the Development Working Group (DWG)," G-20 joint secretary Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur told reporters here.

Delegates from the G-20 countries gathered in the financial capital for the first meeting of the DWG, which is termed as the soul of the grouping, in what is hoped to act as a building block for a joint declaration to be adopted by G-20 leaders at their summit in September 2023.

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Eenam Gambhir, a joint secretary in the G-20 secretariat, said India has chosen "ambitious priorities" for the delegates, who will now go back with the ideas, discuss those internally and come back with questions over the next few weeks.

The attempt is to have two more DWG meetings before holding a ministerial meeting on the important developmental aspects in June, which will finally culminate into a consensus which will be declared at the leaders' summit in September, officials said.

Kakanur said the ministerial meeting on the DWG will be held in Varanasi.

Gambhir added that India has also suggested having a joint foreign and developmental ministers meeting to raise the level of developmental discussions and get political backing for the same.

The attempt at the DWG is to reach an agreement for greater good by de-politicising the issues, Kakanur said, adding that everybody supported the proposals put forth by India.

On the 'life' agenda, he made it clear that India is pressing for smarter and informed consumption, asserting that cutting down consumption is not antithetical to development.

Kakanur said we are midway into the SDG target of 2030, and conceded that work on 17 stated targets has suffered because of the pandemic.

India has pitched with "dimensions" to accelerate the process of attaining the targets, and also showcased some of its own successes like bank account opening drive, with 60 per cent of new account holders being women, and easy money transfers through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), he said.

Kakanur said over 1,000 people attended the inaugural day of the DWG meeting on Tuesday which was open to a larger set of invitees, which was followed with two days of closed door meetings that saw "substantial discussions".

The visiting delegates will be going for an excursion to the tenth century centre of learning at the Kanheri Caves in suburban Borivali on Friday.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)