India last week scripted history and stamped its authority on the global stage, securing a consensus on more than 100 issues on the agenda, including the most contentious one, the Russia-Ukraine war, as G20 leaders adopted the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration.
“United in consensus and spirit, we pledge to work collaboratively for a better, more prosperous and harmonious future. My gratitude to all fellow G20 members for their support and cooperation,” PM Narendra Modi said in a social media post after the 34-page declaration was adopted following what India’s sherpa Amitabh Kant said were “ruthless negotiations” that lasted over 200 hours.
The breakthrough was facilitated by India’s success in enlisting the support of the emerging economies of Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia, and after it invoked the name of PM Modi to bluntly put across the message that there was no more time to be wasted. “Eventually, we had to tell them that our leader wants it, and it has to be delivered,” Kant said.
The significance of the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration stretched far beyond getting the opposite sides to agree to a compromise formulation over Ukraine. It attested to India’s growing geopolitical heft, with the participating nations embracing the priorities flagged by Modi.
Global leaders praise India presidency
Diplomats from around the world praised India's successful chairmanship of the G20, which not only helped the heavily divided bloc reach a consensus but also created the foundation for closer future cooperation. Under Indian leadership, the G20 saw a paradigm shift when the African Union joined the group, paving the way for additional reforms in international multilateral organisations. The theme for India’s G20 presidency was "Vasudhaiva Kutambakam - One Earth, One Family, One Future".
A joint declaration from G20 members condemned "human suffering and adverse repercussions of the conflict in Ukraine on global food and energy security", without directly criticising Russia. Prior to a general election scheduled for the spring of 2024, Prime Minister Modi wants to use the summit to advance both his nation as a significant global force and himself as a world leader. Both Russia's President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping skipped the summit.
‘New spice route’ to counter China’s OBOR
India, the US, the EU, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE reached an agreement to establish the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEE EC), which is seen as a counter to China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative and will offer a faster and more affordable rail and sea transit option to West Asia and Europe. US President Joe Biden called it a "game-changing" regional investment.
Announcing the "historic partnership", for which a memorandum of understanding was signed on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, PM Modi said that in the times to come, this would become an "effective medium for economic integration of India, west Asia, and Europe".
"This is a real big deal. I want to thank the PM (Modi). One Earth, One Family, One Future -that's the focus of this G20 Summit. And in many ways, it’s also the focus of this partnership that we’re talking about today," US President Joe Biden said.
Building sustainable, resilient infrastructure, making quality infrastructure investments, and creating a better future - as we work to address infrastructure gaps across low- and middle-income countries, we need to maximise the intensity of our investments," Biden said. The project will comprise two corridors: East-West, connecting India to west Asia, and the northern corridor, connecting west Asia to Europe.
The idea is to link IMEE EC to southeast Asia, and leverage some of the building blocks of trade. India already has a trade agreement with Asean and the UAE, but it is looking into separate agreements with the EU, the UK, and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other nations in the region.
The Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII), a joint initiative of the G7 countries to finance infrastructure projects in low- and middle-income countries, includes the rail and shipping corridors. PGII is seen as the bloc's response to the OBOR, which has placed a hefty financial load on nations ranging from Kenya and Zambia to Mongolia and Pakistan.
A taste of Indian millets for world leaders
At the G20 Summit's venue, the Bharat Mandapam, President Droupadi Murmu hosted a lavish dinner for the attendees. The menu featured dishes made from millets and Kashmiri Kahwa.
The G20 dinner was attended by chief ministers of several states and world leaders, including President Biden, UK PM Rishi Sunak, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, French President Emmanuel Macron, Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina and others. Bihar's Nitish Kumar, Jharkhand's Hemant Soren, and West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee were among the state leaders from opposition parties who attended the event. The round dinner tables at the event were labelled with different rivers in the country. They included Krishna, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, and Ganga.
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot, Odisha's Naveen Patnaik and Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal were among the leaders from opposition parties who gave the event a miss.
Business leaders, including Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and Bharti Airtel founder chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal were invited.
Modi calls for global institutional reforms
During his address on the second day of the summit, PM Modi reaffirmed his call for global institutional reforms, including the expansion of the United Nations Security Council. He emphasised numerous ideas and initiatives being advanced during India's G20 presidency, such as the development of digital public infrastructure and the formation of the Startup 20 engagement group. Additionally, he urged the nations to cooperate on a framework to address pressing concerns, including cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, and responsible human-centric AI governance.
Addressing the session, PM Modi said, "Yesterday, we had extensive discussions in the One Earth and One Family sessions. I am satisfied that today the G-20 has become a platform for optimistic efforts regarding the vision of One Earth, One Family, One Future. I have continuously drawn your attention to Human Centric Vision instead of GDP Centric Approach".
PM Modi reiterated his stance on making global systems in accordance with the "realities of the present" and took the example of the United Nations Security Council. "When the UN was established, the world at that time was completely different from today. At that time, there were 51 founding members of the UN. Today, the number of countries included in the UN is around 200. Despite this, the permanent members of the UNSC are still the same," he said.
India has many ideas to share with the world, says Modi
PM Modi stated that India has so many ideas that it has a lot to share with the whole world. “Today, many countries like India have so much that we are sharing with the whole world. India has talked about sharing the data of the Chandrayaan Mission with everyone in the interest of humanity. This is also proof of our commitment to Human Centric Growth. India has harnessed technology to foster inclusive development and facilitate last-mile delivery. Even in our most remote villages, the small-scale traders are using digital payments," PM Modi said.
Modi also raised the unprecedented scale and speed of new-generation technologies, including artificial intelligence, and proposed a framework for responsible human-centric AI governance. "Today, our world is also facing some other burning problems, which are affecting both the present and future of all our countries. We are familiar with the challenges of cyber security and crypto-currency. The field of crypto-currency has emerged as a new topic for everyone, i.e., social order, monetary stability, and financial stability. Therefore, we have to develop global standards to regulate cryptocurrencies. We have the Basel standards on bank regulation in front of us as a model," the Prime Minister said.
Before the conclusion of the summit, PM Modi suggested holding a virtual G20 meeting in November to discuss the recommendations and proposals made at the main platform for global economic cooperation. He added, "I propose that at the end of November, we hold a virtual session of the G20. We can review the topics decided at this summit in that virtual session. I hope you all will connect during the virtual session. With this, I declare the conclusion of the G20 Summit," he added.
