Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
[Remarks as Prepared]
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR ISOBEL COLEMAN: Good morning everyone, and thank you again to our chair, Dr. Jaishankar.
India has demonstrated remarkable leadership, placing development at the heart of the G20’s agenda – driving us all to identify concrete actions to accelerate progress on the SDGs.
We meet at a time in which multilateralism and achievement of the SDGs are more threatened than ever.
Just over a year ago, a G20 Member State invaded a peaceful neighbor, violating one of the most fundamental tenets of international order.
Every G20 member – virtually every country, period – continues to bear the cost of Russia’s war of aggression that has both caused and exacerbated some of the most acute global challenges we face today, including the food crisis, and a worsening climate crisis.
So just as the democratic world has come together to strengthen alliances and stand up to unprovoked aggression, we must recommit to transformative action to tackle today’s development challenges.
India has highly prioritized women’s empowerment at this G20 Ministerial.
We cannot achieve the SDGs without advancing gender equality and promoting a prosperous and peaceful world in which women and girls, men and boys, in all their diversity, enjoy equal rights.
Indeed, as PM Modi reminds us, we must go beyond women’s empowerment to women-led development.
USAID recently has released a new Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy, which reaffirms that gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment can unlock human potential on a transformational scale.
So many people around the world face barriers due to their sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation that lead to discrimination, lack of economic opportunity, and oppressive norms.
But when women and girls are able to participate fully in their own communities, extraordinary progress is unleashed, which is what the world is demanding now.
So, the United States is working to extend economic opportunity to the billions of women globally who face barriers to participation in the businesses that will address some of our most pressing challenges.
For example, closing gender gaps in agrifood systems is essential for women’s well-being, but it is also important for maximizing food security and nutrition and accelerating progress towards the SDGs.
And finally, the United States is building on its long history of promoting women’s access to and use of digital technology, including through partnerships with many of you here today.
To unify and scale up these commitments, the U.S. government is proposing a Women in the Digital Economy Initiative.
In collaboration with G20 members, such an initiative would bring together governments, private sector companies, foundations, civil society, and multilateral organizations to accelerate progress towards closing the gender digital divide.
We hope others will join us in supporting this work as we all prepare for the Leaders’ Summit in September.
We have demonstrated our commitment to this initiative with the White House's announcement of the Women in the Digital Economy Fund, a joint effort between USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
USAID will commit at least $50 million, subject to the availability of funding, and the Gates Foundation will commit $10 million by the end of 2026, with at least half of each of these commitments focused on Africa.
We see a great opportunity for partners to either join us in this pooled fund or make aligned commitments to the Women in the Digital Economy Fund.
We encourage all of our G20 partners to collaborate and commit financial, human, and other resources to advance progress on an issue that has long been a priority for the G20.
I want to end by noting our concern that the Action Plan does not include a single mention of human rights, a core component of the 2030 agenda and all of our work.
Realization of human rights is a central component of the 2030 Agenda and must be core to the work of the G20.
Democratic governance and human rights are critical components of sustainable development and lasting peace.
We hope that this forum can become more inclusive and I want to reiterate President Biden’s call for the African Union to become a permanent member of the G20.
The world needs all of us to recommit to collective action; and critically, to empower women to lead and to prosper. The Action Plan is a step in that direction and I am pleased to join my colleagues here today.
Thank you.