 The 3rd G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting was held under the Saudi Arabian Presidency through Video Conferencing. India was represented by Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman in the meeting. During the meet, the participants deliberated on the global economic outlook amid evolving COVID-19 pandemic crisis along with other G20 Finance Track priorities for the year 2020. During the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meet, Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the measures taken by India to fight the COVID-19 pandemic such as direct benefit transfers, special support to agriculture and MSME sectors, rural employment guarantee measures etc. |
 The virtual 32nd special Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) plenary meeting was attended by the Indian officials including the representatives from enforcement agencies. The meeting was held under the aegis of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) is a nine member regional body. The nine member countries of EAG are: India, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The body is an associate member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). |
 International Workshop on “Good Governance Practices in a Pandemic for International Civil Servants” was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Jitendra Singh. The workshop was organized by Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC), Ministry of External Affairs and National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). The two-day Conference featured the participation of 81 International Civil Servants from 16 Countries. The participants included the Chief of Staff, Sri Lanka Army Major General HJS Gunawardena, 19 Senior Secretaries to Government from Bangladesh, 11 District Administrators from Myanmar, Senior officials from Bhutan, Somalia, Thailand, Tunisia, Tonga, Kenya, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Sudan and Uzbekistan. |
 The meeting of the Heads of Tax Authorities of the BRICS countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was held on 29 May. The meeting was hosted by the Federal Tax Service of Russia, which currently holds the BRICS Presidency, to discuss the response of BRICS Tax Authorities to the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore potential areas of cooperation in tax matters. The meeting was scheduled to be held in Moscow, but was held through video conference in view of COVID-19. Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey represented India at the meeting. The Finance Secretary, while extending India’s support to the ongoing work in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and G-20 project on addressing tax challenges posed by digitalization, underlined the need to ensure that the new tax rules are fair and simple. |
 The 22nd Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) was chaired by the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi. The FSDC meeting featured the participation of senior officers of the Government of India as well Financial Sector Regulators. the participants of the meeting reviewed the measures taken by the Government of India and the regulators in the recent months to maintain the financial stability in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. During the meeting, present global and domestic macro-economic situation was reviewed including the financial stability and vulnerabilities issues. They also reviewed major issues that are likely to be faced by banks as well as other financial institutions. Along with the above, FSDC also take note of market volatility, domestic resource mobilisation and capital flows issues. |
 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) E-conclave was chaired by the Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh. The virtual conference of MSMEs E-conclave was organised jointly by the Department of Defence Production, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM). The E-conclave was held with the theme ‘Business Continuity for MSMEs in Defence & Aerospace Sector’. The conclave featured the participation of more than 800 Defence MSMEs units. During the conclave, Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh emphasized and applauded the role played by Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and other Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India’s fight against global COVID-19 pandemic. |
 The 5th edition of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) Summit 2020 to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in the month of September 2020. The summit will be preceded by the 17th Ministerial Meeting and 21st Senior Officials Meeting by the end of 2020. During the meet, it was decided that Sri Lanka will lead the science, technology, and innovation sector in BIMSTEC. Sri Lanka is the Chair of BIMSTEC between 2018 and 2020 and it will hand over the chairmanship to Thailand by the end of 2020. Even though Sri Lanka had hosted 3 Working Committee meetings earlier, this summit will be the first one under the new Administration. |
 The Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) announced that Pune will host the annual session of 108th Indian Science Congress on January 3-7, 2021. The theme of the ISCA is “Science and Technology for Sustainable Development with Women Empowerment” and focus on economic growth, environmental protection and social inclusion of all communities using science and technology. It will also see deliberations on providing equal opportunities to women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) while achieving sustainable development. This will be the fourth time that the city will host the prestigious meet in the last 100 years. Dr Vijay Laxmi Saxena has been elected general president of the Indian Science Congress, 2021. The science congress had commenced in 1914 from then Calcutta with 105 members. Currently, the association has more than 60,000 members from various streams of science like agriculture, archaeology, biochemistry, earth system science among others. |
 The 19th edition of World Productivity Congress (WPC) will be held from May 6 to May 8, 2020, in Bengaluru, Karnataka. World Productivity Congress is the world’s largest convention for productivity development that shape future productivity growth. The theme of 19th World Productivity Congress is “Industry 4.0: Innovation and Productivity”. The theme represents the Fourth Industrial Revolution that amalgamates the capabilities of humans and machines. India is hosting the conference after a gap of 45 years. Before this, the country hosted the WPC in the year 1974. |
 The International Judicial Conference was held in New Delhi. The Conference was addressed by PM Modi. The theme of the conference is “Gender Just World”. The topic of the one-day conference is “Judiciary and The Changing World”. The conference discussed the changes made by GoI to bring gender equality including recruitment of women in military service, changes in the selection process of fighter pilots, and the freedom to work at night in the mines. The synergy of artificial intelligence (AI) and human conscience is expected to give further impetus to judicial processes in India. Centre has established National Judicial Data Grid, in order to make court procedures easier. The Conference also focused on the need for technology to deliver rapid justice. The initiative “E-Court Integrated Mission Mode Project” of GoI, to integrate every court of India with the E-Court system was highlighted. |
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