G20 Summit 2023: India's Three Big Digital Public Infrastructure Outcomes
A global framework recognition, the One Future Alliance, and a global repository were the key outcomes.
With the G20 Leaders' New Delhi Declaration officially adopted, India's measures to push global adoption of digital public infrastructure have received a boost.
The three key outcomes, making up three paragraphs of the 83-paragraph document, were the recognition of a global framework, the formation of a global alliance to support financing for further adoption and put India in focus as a leader in implementing digital public infrastructure.
A G20 Framework for Systems of Digital Public Infrastructure: A voluntary and suggested framework for the development, deployment and governance of DPI has been unanimously accepted by all G20 member countries. This is in line with Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar's statement on Sept. 5, confirming that countries have reached a consensus on the matter. Countries understood how the DPI could be a "powerful inclusion mechanism for (the) global South", he said.
Creation of a Global Digital Public Infrastructure Repository: The declaration also mentions the approval of India’s plan to build and maintain a global repository, which will be a virtual stack where non-G20 and G-20 countries can voluntarily share their open-source mechanisms to drive a mutually-beneficial ecosystem.
One Future Alliance: The declaration also "takes note" of India's proposal to create One Future Alliance, which is a voluntary initiative aimed at building capacity, and provide technical assistance and adequate funding support for implementing digital public infrastructure in low and middle income countries.
India's Ministry of Electronics and IT, which is the nodal ministry for the India Stack, has long pushed for wider adoption of DPI. India has also signed pacts with to adopt parts of India Stack in Suriname, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Armenia, Mauritius, and Saudi Arabia.
At the end of the second session on Day 1 at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India's Prime Minister announced that a declaration had been accepted unanimously by all G20 member countries. Day 2 is officially underway currently, with a pending talk titled 'One Earth', which is expected to focus on climate financing and energy transition.
