Srinagar/IBNS/UNI: Amid unprecedented security, the high-profile third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting kicked off in Kashmir's Srinagar on Monday.

The three-day G20 meet is the first major international event in Jammu and Kashmir since 2019 when the erstwhile state's special status was scrapped and it became a Union Territory.

G20 members - Turkey and Saudi Arabia - did not register for the meeting, sources said. Some tour representatives from Saudi Arabia and Turkey are, however, in the city to attend the deliberations.

At Srinagar airport, the foreign delegates were welcomed in a traditional way.

Officials said over 70 foreign delegates are in Srinagar for the crucial meeting. Sources said they arrived at Srinagar International Airport from New Delhi via two chartered flights.

The G20 meeting got underway at Sher-e-Kashmir International Conventional complex on the bank of the picturesque Dal Lake here, with a side event on 'Film Tourism for Economic Growth and Cultural Preservation' which was aimed at promoting film tourism strategies.