NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi has been appointed Chair of the Civil 20 (C20), a civil society forum of the G20 Group of Twenty, by the Government of India. C20 is composed of civil society organisations (CSOs) worldwide. It voices the peoples' aspirations with world leaders in G20.

Civil 20 is a group of independent collectives and is led by the host country of the G20 summit. The concerned Civil 20 summit is held before the G20 summit each year.

India will take Presidency of the G20 for one year from December 1, 2022 till November 30, 2023 and the Summit will be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 next year. The current president is Indonesia and the 'Civil 20 Indonesia' summit is over.

Amma appreciated the provision for a wide spectrum representation of the voices of the common people.

"Hunger, conflict, extinction of species and environmental destruction are the most important issues facing the world today. We should put in sincere efforts to develop solutions," Amma remarked at the first C20 online interaction.

"Often, we see a lack of multi-disciplinary and integrated effort. This is the need of the hour," Amma said. She said poverty in the rural areas is a major hurdle in the way of overall progress and reminded that it is the people there who grow most of our food.

C20 engages more than 800 civil societies and organisations from member and non-member countries ensuring that people of all strata of society are heard at the G20 Summit. Representation of CSOs among G20 member nations began in 2010.

G20 is an inter-governmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union dealing with global economy, climate change and development.

The New Delhi summit will discuss issues relating to “women’s empowerment, digital public infrastructure, health, agriculture, education, culture, tourism, climate financing, circular economy, global food security, energy security, green hydrogen, disaster risk reduction and resilience, fight against economic crime and multilateral reforms”.

Current President Indonesia holds the summit at the resort island of Bali from November 15. Bali is the most popular island holiday destination in the Indonesian archipelago.

The members of the G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.