Amb. Ashok Sajjanhar
Former Indian Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Sweden and Latvia
India assumed the Presidency of G20 for 2023 from Indonesia on 1st December, 2022. While accepting this responsibility, PM Narendra Modi said that India’s G20 presidency will be “inclusive, ambitious, decisive and action-oriented.’’
India’s assumption of the G20 presidency has decisively signaled its emergence as a significant player on the global stage.
The Setting
The Bali G20 Summit in November, 2022 was held at a particularly difficult and uncertain moment in international politics and economics.
The world has been subjected to huge instability and volatility over the last 3 years inter-alia due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has had global implications through high inflation, shortages of food, fertilizers and energy, unsustainable debts, supply chain disruptions and more. It is in these circumstances that India has been entrusted with the responsibility of steering the activities of the G20.
The Summit
India emerged as a ‘’leader, solution provider and consensus builder’’ at the Bali Summit. The shadow of the Russia-Ukraine conflict loomed large over the deliberations in the run up to the Summit. India was able to act as a bridge between the opposing sides on the issue. A compromise solution was achieved which reiterated the assertion by PM Modi to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Samarkand on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit that ‘’today is not an era of war,’’ and that the solution to the conflict should be found through ‘’dialogue and diplomacy.’’
India’s Presidency
During its Presidency, India will aspire to deliver outcomes in areas of critical interest such as integrating the climate and development agenda, accelerating progress towards achieving the SDG 2030 mandate, furthering development cooperation, enhancing food security and nutrition, women empowerment, promotion of blue economy, digital health solutions, green hydrogen and tech-enabled learning.
India has also emerged as a strong and clear voice of the global South. There is a persistent feeling among several small countries that their concerns and problems do not get the attention they deserve. In a remarkable path-breaking initiative, India organized the ‘’Voice of the Global South for Human-Centric Development’’ virtual Summit on 12th-13th January, 2023. The Summit brought together 125 countries of the global South to share their perspectives and priorities on a common platform across a whole range of issues.
India’s G20 priorities would be shaped in consultation with not just G20 partners, but also with our fellow travellers in the Global South, whose voice often goes unheard. Several developing countries like Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Nigeria, Oman and the UAE have also been invited as “guest countries” by India to the G20 Summit in September this year.
Conclusion
Accepting the G20 Presidency, PM Modi declared that India will organize more than 200 G20 meetings in 55 different cities on 35 different themes around the country. Visitors to India will get the full experience of its amazing diversity, inclusive traditions, and cultural richness.
India will hand over the baton to Brazil at the end of November, 2023. It is for the first time that the troika comprising of the current, past and future Presidencies of G20 will comprise of three major developing and emerging economies. This provides a unique opportunity to India, supported by Indonesia and Brazil, to make a significant contribution to peace, security, stability and prosperity in the world. India looks forward to its Presidency of the G20 with determination and confidence.
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