Reflections on the G20 Summit in New Delhi

The much-touted annual Summit of the Group of 20, simply known as the G20 Summit ended in New Delhi on Sunday 10 September. As expected, it was a jamboree where Prime Minister Modi tried to impress the world leaders gathered for the summit.

- MP Joseph

Notwithstanding the hastily covered up slums and hutments of Delhi, and the flooding of the venue after the Sunday rains, India as temporary President of G20 was able to work out a draft Joint Declaration that was accepted by all the participating countries. Knowing that if New Delhi was unable to get an unanimously acceptable Joint Declaration through, the Summit would go down in history as quite a failure, many countries including the US, Germany etc. accepted a draft that under any other circumstances would have been quite unacceptable to them. None of the countries, especially the key ones would have liked to see a red-faced New Delhi. Thus compromises were made and the west accepted a declaration in which Russia was not mentioned by name even once let alone identified as the invader in the Ukraine war.

The G20, is often seen as a crucial platform for addressing global economic challenges and fostering international cooperation since its inception in 1999. In 1999, 19 nations, joined by the European Union, united to establish the G20. This came in the wake of a financial crisis that had severely impacted several Asian countries in the late 1990s. The crisis compelled the creation of such an international forum aimed at addressing economic upheavals and for fostering stability. Post the global economic crisis of 2008, the G20 became more significant, packing as it did more muscle with the heads of Governments themselves representing their countries at the G20 summits.

The G20 centres its efforts in addressing critical global issues, including climate change, geopolitical stability, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These themes have also been at the forefront of discussions during recent G20 meetings.

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