Union Tourism Secretary V Vidyavathi on Tuesday interacted with media on the recently concluded events, and said, “Now, for us (tourism ministry), it is a beginning of an opportunity to ensure how we can keep the momentum going”.
About 200 G20 meetings are being hosted at 50 locations across the country.
A Goa Roadmap and Action Plan, and an Outcome Document and Chair‘s Summary were issued after the G20 ministerial meeting in Panaji.
Five inter-related key priorities of the G20 tourism track — green tourism, digitisation, destination management, skills and tourism MSMEs — were endorsed by all G20 countries for achieving sustainable, resilient and inclusive tourism, officials had earlier said.
Vidyavathi said these five priority areas are “all-encompassing” and “action on these lie with many ministries as well”. “Everybody plays the part. We want to share the documents with other ministries so that all of us can become key players… it’s a collective document,” she said in response to a query. The multi-point Outcome Document and Chair’s Summary, and Goa Roadmap and Action Plan are exhaustive documents.
The Outcome Document pertains to paragraphs 1 to 3 and paragraphs 6 to 36 which have been “unanimously agreed” to by all G20 delegations. The Chair’s Summary pertains to paragraphs 4 and 5.
While paragraph 4 refers to the “war in Ukraine”, paragraph 5 mentions that “today’s era must not be of war”.
“Russia disassociated itself from the status of this document as a common outcome because of references to para 4 and 5,” reads a footnote in the Outcome Document and Chair’s Summary.
Asked about these two paragraphs, Additional Secretary in Tourism Ministry, Rakesh Verma, said, “Usually you have a joint communique. This is in the backdrop of the geopolitical issue”.
“That’s how the Sherpa and the G20 Secretariat have advised Tourism Working Group, rather all working groups… Just because, with these two paragraphs, Russia was not in agreement with, we call it a Chair’s Summary,” he told reporters.
During the interaction, officials also said that “about 15 bilateral meetings” were held on the sidelines of the G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting and the G20 Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Goa.
The opening lines of the preamble of the Outcome Document and Chair’s Summary read: “We, the Ministers of Tourism of the G20 member countries, met in Goa, India, on June 21 2023, to reaffirm the importance of working towards the full recovery of tourism from the impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic and advancing the role of tourism in accelerating the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the achievement of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
Paragraph 4 reads: “The war in Ukraine has further adversely impacted the global economy. There was a discussion on the issue. We reiterated our national positions as expressed in other fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, which, in Resolution No. ES11/1 dated 2 March 2022, as adopted by majority vote (141 votes for, 5 against, 35 abstentions, 12 absent) deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine”.
Recognising that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues, “we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy,” it says.
“It is essential to uphold international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability. This includes defending all the Purposes and Principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and adhering to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and infrastructure in armed conflicts.
“The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today’s era must not be of war,” reads paragraph 5 of the document.
The tourism ministry, in a statement issued later, said the Goa Roadmap and Action Plan is aimed at “providing national governments in the G20 countries and beyond as well as other tourism players with voluntary tools and recommendations to leverage the sector’s capability to progress the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)”.
Verma said, ‘Travel for LiFE’ a vision of India has been incorporated in the Goa roadmap. LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) movement refers to having a lifestyle that respects the environment and was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi had also addressed G20 delegates during the Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Goa through a video message.
On the G20 Dashboard that is being made in partnership with UNWTO, Verma said, inputs have been received from G20 countries, and “in next two-three months it should be up and running”.
Asked if the upcoming National Tourism Policy will have elements from the Goa roadmap, Verma said, the five pillars in it, emanate from the draft National Tourism Policy”.
And, the Policy will take the “vision forward”, he said.
About 130 delegates from countries such as the US, the UK, Spain, South Africa, Russia, Mauritius, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Oman, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, and top international organisations took part in the ministerial meeting.
