India must build the capacity to make its G20 presidency in the future a success

India must build the capacity to make its G20 presidency in the future a success

News: India will be the host to G20 in 2022 and needs to prepare for the event.

Facts:

• The G20 leaders-level dialogue came into being during the western financial crisis of 2008.
• In 2022, India will be host to the G20 which is the agenda-setting forum that develops and guides rules of global economic governance.
• The G20 host sets an annual agenda, wielding vast direct and indirect influence on nations’ economies.
• Developing countries can display their political, economic and intellectual leadership on a par with developed countries and G20’s rotating presidency ensures that no one country dominates the agenda.
• India is ready to play the host as Indian business and industry is becoming a noteworthy competitor globally and country’s domestic economy is starting to pick up.
• But India needs to ensure the following wjile playing the host for G20 summit:
  • A G20 presidency brings together several global leaders, their attending delegations, and independent experts which expects good airports, accommodation, conference facilities, and communications infrastructure all year round.
  • Host of the G20 is tasked with leading and managing the global economic agenda for the year. The finance and foreign ministry, RBI, SEBI and a special appointee as G20 sherpa, together act as the secretariat to the G20 presidency. In India, the ministries have fine officers but they are overworked and limited by their short tenures.
  • India needs an energetic secretariat to organise over 150 high-level ministerial, sub-ministerial and sub-forum meetings through the year. Secretariat would oversee content management, negotiation and feedback processes and develop and execute the year-long agenda.
  • India has constrained intellectual capacity which restricts it to being a passive rule-taker, not rule-maker or designer of global economic rules. Hence India requires deep inter-disciplinary research on the international monetary system, global financial architecture, global trading system, and global climate, energy and sustainability issues.

India is a growing, emerging economy but leads no global economic forums. Hence, the government will have to work together with its think tanks, businesses and civil society to develop a working mechanism and an agenda for 2022.