A G20 Sherpa meeting is a gathering of the personal representatives (“sherpas”) of each G20 leader (president or prime minister). They meet to prepare the G20 leaders’ summit: shaping the agenda, negotiating draft agreements and trying to solve disagreements in advance. The term “Sherpa” is borrowed from the Sherpa people of Nepal, who guide climbers up mountains—by analogy, these officials “guide” their leaders toward the summit.
Sherpa meetings are attended by: • One sherpa (and support team) from each G20 member: 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union. • Sherpas or representatives from invited guest countries and international organizations. The sherpas themselves are usually high‑ranking officials such as senior diplomats or top economic/foreign‑policy advisers to the head of government (for example, directors‑general, deputy ministers, or senior White House advisers).
Typical objectives and agenda items at a G20 Sherpa meeting include: • Setting and refining the summit agenda (which topics leaders will discuss). • Coordinating the work of G20 “Sherpa Track” working groups (e.g., development, health, climate, anti‑corruption, digital economy, employment). • Reviewing progress on each presidency’s priorities and identifying gaps. • Addressing cross‑cutting or sensitive geopolitical and development issues to see where consensus is possible. • Preparing drafts of ministerial statements and, ultimately, the leaders’ declaration.
Sherpa meetings are meant to produce: • Drafts of the G20 Leaders’ Declaration or communiqué, with as much language agreed as possible. • Agreed priorities and instructions for the various G20 working groups and ministerial meetings. • Lists of concrete “deliverables” for the summit (for example, initiatives on trade, climate, development, or energy). • Narrowed‑down disagreements so that only the toughest political issues are left to leaders at the summit itself.
For the United States, G20 Sherpa meetings are usually led by the U.S. G20 Sherpa, who is a senior White House official responsible for international economic policy (for example, within the National Security Council or National Economic Council). When the U.S. is G20 president and hosts meetings, the Department of State’s Office of the Spokesperson often issues the press releases about those sherpa meetings, but policy leadership sits in the White House with the designated sherpa.
Because the main State Department page is returning an error, the same official text can be read on other U.S. government sites that mirror Department of State releases. An accessible copy of “United States Hosts First G20 Sherpa Meeting” is available on the U.S. Embassy in Chile’s website, which reproduces the full media note. Other mirrors, such as some archival or reposting services, also carry the text, but the embassy page is the clearest official version.