GUWAHATI:
A G20 seminar on “Financing for SDGs: Blueprint to achieve a Sustainable Future” was organised at Gauhati University on January 31 prior to the 1st G20 Sustainable Finance and Working Group (SFWG) meeting to be held in the city from February 2.
The G20 seminar was inaugurated by Gauhati University vice-chancellor Dr Pratap Jyoti Handique.
In her opening remarks Geetu Joshi, advisor at the Ministry of Finance, highlighted that the underlying idea of the event is to spread awareness about the importance of G20 and to take G20 to the people of Assam.
In his keynote address, Indian Institute Of Management–Shillong (IIM–Shillong) director Dr DP Goyal stated that IIM-Shillong and sustainability are closely interlinked and shared his perspective on the topic.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) CGM Sunil Nair gave a special address on the ‘Role of Banks in Financing of SDGs’, in which he highlighted the key role of banks and the steps they could take in this regard.
The seminar also had two panel discussions. The first panel discussion on ‘Sustainable Financing: Way Ahead to achieve Agenda 2030’ was chaired by Geetu Joshi.
The panellists comprised industry experts, namely Neha Kumar from Climate Bonds Initiative, Prarthana Borah from CDP India, Dr. Rouhin Deb, chief economist from Assam government, Roopa Satish from IndusInd Bank and Dr Soumen Bagchi from UNICEF.
The second panel discussion on the ‘Role of Financial Sector Regulators in Financing the SDGs’ was chaired by Brij Raj, GM, RBI.
The panelists comprised senior officers from financial sector regulators, namely Amit Sinha from RBI, Surabhi Gupta from SEBI, Ammu Venkata Ramana from IRDAI and Abhilash Mulakala from IFSCA.
The panellists in both sessions offered excellent insights from their vast experience on the topic and gave several useful suggestions on ‘Financing the SDGs’.
The seminar was interactive and appreciated by the participants.
GU registrar Dr Hemanta Kumar Nath gave the vote of thanks.