Great G20 power, great responsibility

Source: The post is based on the article “Great G20 power, great responsibility” published in The Hindu on 13^th September 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2 – Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Relevance: About India’s G20 presidency.

News: From December, India will assume the Group of 20 (G20) year-long presidency along with India will also hold the G20 Summit in India in 2023. India will have the opportunity to assume centre stage in proposing and setting the global agenda and discourse.

What are the other International events India participated in or going to participate in?

India participated in 1) The ‘Senior Officers Meeting’ of the Quad, 2) India and Japanese counterparts held the second India-Japan ‘2+2’ Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo.

India is also scheduled to attend 1) The meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand in Uzbekistan. This will be the first in-person summit of the SCO since the COVID-19 pandemic, 2) India and China will take up the remaining issues along the LAC when the disengagement at Patrolling Point 15 in Gogra-Hot Springs is completed, 3) India will also preside as President of the United Nations Security Council for December 2022.

Why India’s G20 presidency is significant?

India can assert its political, economic and intellectual leadership while hosting the G20 presidency.

What India should do as a G20 president?

India will have to perform a delicate balancing act: India have to balance the West, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and G7 partner nations setting the agenda along with the emerging nexus between China and Russia. India might have to address issues that help in bridging the emerging divide in the world order.

India needs to promote specific priorities: India can find a common ground for setting its G20 agenda by addressing issues of global concern. India needs to focus on specific priorities related to domestic and regional issues such as economic recovery, trade and investment, unemployment, patent waivers on diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines.

India should chart a road map for quick global economic recovery, focusing on the supply chain resilience mechanism and stressing on green and digital transformations in the economy and their impact on societal well-being.

India should forge greater cooperation with many G20 members: India should forge greater cooperation with the European Union, the U.K., and Canada especially on realising free trade agreements.

Ensure better and more balanced representation at the G20: India could invite and engage countries from Africa and South America to ensure better and more balanced representation at the G20.

Areas such as technology transfer, greater access to trade for developing countries, addressing debt distress of countries by offering sustainable aid and loan programmes, tackling food and energy prices/security for vulnerable economies etc. could be relevant.

India will be central in outlining key priority areas and in ensuring that the forum does not remain just a ‘talk shop’ but translates into a ‘walk shop’ in terms of meaningful actions and outcomes. Only this will give credibility to India’s pivotal role in the international community.