About Hiroshima G7 Summit: In Hiroshima, En Route To A North-South Bridge

Source: The post is based on the article “In Hiroshima, En Route To A North-South Bridge” published in The Times of India on 19th May 2023.

Syllabus: GS – 2: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Relevance: About India’s participation in the Hiroshima G7 summit

News: Indian Prime Minister is travelling to Hiroshima, Japan to participate in the 49th G7 summit. For India, this will be the tenth participation.

What is G7?

G7 countries have around 45% of global GDP. It has moved on to become an economy-plus forum encompassing in its deliberation major global challenges, including peace and security, counter-terrorism, development, education, health, environment and climate change.

About the Hiroshima G7 summit

A Hiroshima action statement on food security is being worked upon. It aims to respond to the ongoing global food security crisis and to build more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive agriculture and food systems.

What is the importance of the G7 grouping for India?

Provides opportunity: India’s participation in the G7 summits will provide India with an opportunity to meet with some of the most important leaders of the global community. The interactions with G7 countries provide useful input into understanding the dynamics of these major countries.

Help in expanding the rules-based order: India has been recognised as a partner of G7 for a long and is seen as a strong voice of the democratic global south. India has also been shaping the narrative on development, environment, peace and stability. This can get significant attention from like-minded countries.

Aid the success of India’s G20 presidency: Hiroshima G7 summit allows for a certain G20-G7 north-south bridging which India is best placed to undertake among major stakeholders in the world. Further, the presence of both Indonesia and Brazil (Present G20 troika countries) in the upcoming G7 summit further strengthens India’s G20 presidency.

India has become the largest country in population terms and is on its way to becoming the third-largest economy in another decade. This has increased India’s G7 membership fortune in future.

What are the concerns raised against the G7 grouping?

G7 articulate Western unity: G7 has a practice of “outreach” by interacting with a select number of invited countries decided by the host. For example, the recent host Japan does not invite China and Russia to be part of the summit.

Not the gathering of largest economies: G7 started in the early 1970s as a getting together of what were the largest economies in the world. But now, with the rise of BRICS, this is no longer the case and G20 has assumed the mantle of the premier economic forum of the world.