Sherpa Track, Finance Track, and Engagement Groups: What are the G20 ‘workstreams’?

Source: The post is based on the article “Sherpa Track, Finance Track, and Engagement Groups: What are the G20 ‘workstreams’?”  published in Indian Express on 5th September 2023

What is the News?

The 18th annual G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will take place at Bharat Mandapam, Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.

What is G20?

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What are the different tracks under G20?

The G20 works in three major tracks — two of them are official and one is unofficial.

The official tracks are the Finance Track and the Sherpa Track.The unofficial track includes engagement groups or civil society groups.

Finance Track:

The Finance Track is headed by the finance ministers and central bank governors.

It usually meets four times a year, with two meetings being held on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings. 

It mainly focuses on fiscal and monetary policy issues such as the global economy, infrastructure, financial regulation, financial inclusion, international financial architecture, and international taxation.

Sherpa Track:

The Sherpa Track was established after the forum became a leaders’ summit in 2008. It consists of representatives of heads of state.

It mainly focuses on socio-economic issues such as agriculture, anti-corruption, climate, digital economy, education, employment, energy, environment, health, tourism, trade and investment.

Each representative is known as a Sherpa — it is the metaphor from the mountaineering domain, where the Sherpa is supposed to do the heavy lifting or assist the mountaineer.There are 13 working groups within the Sherpa Track.

Engagement Groups: 

The unofficial track comprises engagement or civil groups.These groups often draft recommendations to the G20 Leaders that contribute to the policy-making process. 

The engagement groups are as follows: Business20, Civil20, Labour20, Parliament20, Science20, SAI20, Startup20, Think20, Urban20, Women20 and Youth20.