G20 Culture Ministers' Meeting: A recorded video message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the G20 Culture Ministers' Meeting will be played during the event being hosted in Varanasi today (August 26). Varanasi is the parliamentary constituency of Modi.
Sources said in the 9-minute-long video the prime minister will extend his greetings to the ministers and other delegates who have gathered in the temple town for the mega G20 event. Varanasi hosted the fourth and final meeting of the G20 Culture Working Group (CWG) during August 24-25.
The delegates had started arriving in the holy city from August 23 (Wednesday) and streets and ghats had been spruced up for the occasion. The CWG culminates with the Culture Ministers' Meeting on August 26. The opening session of the meeting is scheduled to begin shortly.
After the lighting of a lamp, the video message from Prime Minister Modi will be played, followed by remarks from the Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy. Reddy on Friday said it was fitting that the last meeting of the G20 Culture Working Group and the Culture Ministers' Meeting was being held in Varanasi, the cultural capital of India.
"It is a matter of great fortune for the government of India that this important event is being held in Varanasi, the ancient city that reflects the cultural soul and ethos of India," he told reporters here.
The CWG aims to arrive at actionable outcomes keeping culture at the heart of policymaking, officials have said. The CWG's first meeting was held in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, followed by two more in Odisha's Bhubaneswar and Hampi in Karnataka.
Deliberations on the draft of the G20 culture ministerial declaration being held here are moving towards a full consensus, Union Culture Secretary Govind Mohan had said on Friday. A performance by the G20 Global Orchestra, titled Sur Vasudha, celebrating the rich musical knowledge and heritage of the member nations of the bloc and invitee countries will be presented in the temple town on Saturday evening.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is slated to attend the evening cultural performance to be held at Rudraksh convention centre. A recorded message from Modi was also played at the inaugural session of the G20 Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Goa held in June.
Asserting the ethos of 'Atithi Devo Bhava', Modi via the video had invited G20 delegates to visit India during the 2024 general elections and witness the festival of democracy in all its diversity.
(With PTI inputs)
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