India’s moment: on the G-20 Summit outcomes
The G-20 Summit was reimagined as a forum for changing the wider world
The Leaders’ Summit of India’s presidency of the G-20 grouping, held over the weekend, resulted in major success with the unanimous adoption of the New Delhi Declaration — especially significant as there was little hope of one. Experts, diplomats and officials had downplayed expectations of India’s negotiators being able to pull-off what few have achieved thus far : a détente between the “western” G-7-EU axis and the Russia-China combine over the issue of the Ukraine war. At the UN Security Council, not a single statement has been passed so far as a result-of vetoes by both sides. While Indonesian G-20 negotiators in 2022 were able to pull off a joint statement with references critical-of Russia (the G-7 pushed for these), the consensus did not last , and Russia and China refused to have them repeated this year. As every Indian ministerial meeting ended without success in a joint statement, India’s negotiating team took the more considered approach — to achieve consensus on other issues, before tackling the paragraphs on Ukraine. There was a breakthrough after the G-7 compromised on its insistence of language critical of Russia by having more neutral paragraphs. The Declaration statement achieved what is truly impossible in today’s global polarization . In that, India’s “middle path” policy has been its biggest strength, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal outreach to many G-20 leaders over the year. Another key initiative was enlisting the “ Global-South ”, including many G-20 members, who were reluctant to take-sides in the tussle , and wanted instead to shift priorities to global development issues. As a result, the 83-paragraph Declaration made progress on cryptocurrency regulation, and crystallised a figure of nearly $10 trillion needed for climate change adaptation and mitigation projects for the Global South, although it failed to agree on any fossil fuel “ phase-out ” deadlines.
There were several other initiatives too: the admission of the 55-member African Union has corrected an imbalance that so far only allowed the EU in as a regional grouping in the G-20. The Global Biofuel Alliance was an important step towards more research and delivery of alternative energy sources for a world still dependent on fossil fuels. Finally, an India-Middle East-Europe Corridor with the promise of U.S. investment has dazzling possibilities, but details of its funding and execution still need to be drawn-out . India’s attempt to take the G-20 outside of the ordinary, single- venue template , to hold 200 meetings in over 60 cities, drawing more than 1,00,000 official visitors from 125 countries, has been noted as a unique initiative, albeit at considerable extra cost; it remains to be seen whether future G-20s will find it a viable example to follow. Above all, India’s G-20 leaves an indelible mark in its attempt to “popularise” an organisation seen till now as a staid and boring event bringing world leaders to a high table where arcane subjects are discussed, decisions made are not scrutinized , and without bringing real change to the lives of the wider global population. To that-end , Mr. Modi’s decision to hold a virtual “review” meeting in November, before India gives-up its presidency, is a chance to ensure implementation and scrutiny of the decisions made over the weekend, that has been dubbed “India’s G-20 moment”.