Never before has the G20 been commemorated the way it is in India. At airports, railway stations, and significant traffic intersections across Indian cities and villages, cutouts of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the G20 are on display. The Indian government has gone all out to promote it as a significant international event since taking over the group's rotating chairmanship from Indonesia in December 2022.
In preparation for the big finale in September with leaders of state and government present in New Delhi, approximately 200 sessions are being held in close to 50 locations around India.
What makes the G20 so unique that India is going all out to build a name for itself? After all, summits are conducted annually in other nations with little fanfare.
It is true that India is holding the presidency for the first time, and Modi will host roughly 20 (19 plus the EU) of the most significant world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Depending on the state of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin will likely attend.
A sizable portion of the middle class believes that under PM Modi, the moment has now come for India to take on a far more significant role on the international scene, as has long been the belief of the Indian elites. However, not everyone agrees with this.
Critics of the administration point out that Modi's credentials as a statesman will be highlighted during the glitzy international display before elections the following year. The camaraderie that will be on show between Modi and foreign leaders would astound regular individuals who have little knowledge of how such gatherings operate. This will support the BJP's effort to win reelection in 2024.
The G20 was mainly an economic conference attended by finance ministers and the leaders of the major reserve banks when it was established in 1999, shortly after the Asian financial crisis. Rich industrialized nations and significant developing economies get together at the G20 to strive for financial and economic stability.
The leaders of state and government who were entrusted with reviving economic development during the financial crisis of 2007–2008 brought on by the collapse of the US housing market were promoted to the Group of 20 in 2007. Global financial markets experienced turbulence and a decrease in liquidity as a result of the collapse's shocks. The Group of 20 made an attempt to calm the panic and give the financial markets confidence that nations would cooperate to protect the financial system. The team was able to stop the panic and bring back financial stability.
The G20 has evolved over time to focus on issues more than just economy, and as of late, it has caused internal strife by bringing up the conflict in the Ukraine. Due to divergent views among the G20 member nations on the Ukraine War, no agreement on a final communiqué for the meeting of the finance and foreign ministers could be reached. Russia and China vehemently disagreed with the joint statement against the US and Western attempts to condemn Moscow's behavior.
India is anxious for the G20 to be focused on business and avoid deviating into controversial strategic and political topics. The interruption of global supply lines that followed the Covid-19 outbreak and the cessation of economic activity, as New Delhi correctly notes, has wreaked havoc on poor nations across Asia and Africa. It is time for the G20 to take notice of their situation. In fact, India has pledged to bring its issues at the G20 summit. In fact, India organized a virtual conference, fittingly named the Voice of the Global South, where Modi spoke with leaders of Asian and African nations to learn about their issues so that India could bring them up at the G20 conference. The summit will be a success if India is successful in drawing attention to the issues facing the Global South and persuades the industrialized countries to provide assistance.
“India's G20 presidency comes at a good moment as the globe transitions from globalization to constrained national silos. India has the opportunity to really shake up the bottle and champion the cause of the global south, which is generally underrepresented in the G20, in a case of the half-filled bottle syndrome. The whole African continent is represented by the one nation of South Africa. So now is India's chance to return to the 1950s and 1960s, when India shone a fresh light on the developing globe, former ambassador Rajiv Dogra had told Outlook in March of this year, before the G20 foreign ministers meeting. He also made his points about the Summit. The G20 was founded on economic and financial reasons, but in recent months, acrimony and hostility have taken center stage, he said. Will the G20 engage in rhetoric pitting Russia and China against the West? Or, would the ministers exhibit statesmanlike behavior and consider debt relief plans for struggling nations?
Getting the West, Russia, and China to agree is a difficult task. But the effort to arrange the jamboree would have been worthwhile if India can forge an agreement on the economy and get a promise of aid for the Global South.
