The G20, the world's leading forum for international economic cooperation, is being urged to appoint a group of religous leaders to be one of its formal engagement groups.
The G20 Interfaith Forum is a platform for religously linked institutions and initiatives come together to advise heads of state on global topics. It began in 2014 but is not currently one of eight formal engagement groups on the sidelines of the G20.
Now it wants the G20 to formally recognise the “I20” as an official engagement group that would gather religious leaders each year and help influence policy recommendations of G-20 member countries., according to a report in Devex, which reports on the global development community.
To support its recommendations to this year's G20 summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia, the G20 Interfaith Forum held a series of six regional consultations with faith leaders and related stakeholders, culminating in a global forum in October which was attended by 2,000 people from 90 countries.
Christina Tobias-Nahi, director of communications and public affairs at Islamic Relief USA, participated in the North America regional consultation, and said much of the conversation focused on the Covid-19 pandemic and the role faiths should play in response and recovery.
'When G-20 meets and they meet about economics and the economic health of the world, [we hope] that they don’t forget the moral health, the spiritual health, the physical health that all input into that,' she told Devex.