India will underline the need for further diversity, the voice of the Global South as well as a human-centric approach to globalism as the country gears up for the G-20 leader’s meeting on Sept. 9-10 in New Delhi under the motto "One Earth, One Family, One Future."
India, as a developing country, has placed utmost importance on inclusivity for its G-20 presidency and has within this scope invited several non-G-20 members for the range of meetings held during the country’s term. The 32 countries, in addition to the G-20 members and guest countries, are present in the programs. The G-20 includes the European Union and the major economies of all continents, including the U.S., China, Russia and Germany.
So far more than 200 meetings, including four Sherpa meetings, 20 ministerial meetings as well as a parliamentary speaker summit have taken place with more than 30,000 delegates from at least 115 countries.
Furthermore, representatives of 14 international and regional organizations including four from Asia and two from Africa are participating.
As the globe faces continued challenges from the pandemic, the ongoing Ukraine conflict and climate change, India has proposed new working groups and conferences on disaster risk reduction, cybersecurity for the first time as well as a Chief Science Advisors Roundtable and a new engagement group called the Startup20.
The Indian Presidency has drawn out six focus points, namely inclusive and resilient growth, progress on the sustainable development goals (SDGs), green development and life, technological transformation and digital public infrastructure, reforming multilateral institutions as well as women-led development.
“The world is witnessing a slowdown globally, there is a recession, and the first and foremost priority for the G-20 is to drive strong, sustainable and inclusive growth. That has been one of the key drivers of India so that we are able to lift the vast sector of the population above the poverty line,” Amitabh Kant, G-20 sherpa of India, told the G-20 media delegation of which Daily Sabah was a part of.
Another key priority is on technological transformation, the sherpa said, pointing out that the next decade will be a decade of digital transformation. “We believe that digital public infrastructure will be able to drive growth across the world.”
Although the G-20 meetings are usually held in only one city or a few in general, India has spread the programs to more than 60 locations covering all 28 states to introduce the country’s vibrant culture and allow people to see more than the popular destinations of New Delhi, Jaipur, Goa or Mumbai.
“India’s G-20 has been very different from other countries. Most countries do it in one city or two cities,” Kant said, reiterating that the G-20's influence continues throughout the year. “We used this opportunity to transform cities in terms of sewage, drainage, solid waste, present their culture, their handicraft. We allowed the states to improve their infrastructure. We used the G-20 for developmental purposes. We also used the G-20 to reach out to the common citizens, students, people of India. Therefore we were able to bring G-20 to the grassroots level and make G-20 a people’s movement.”
India announced that it made a proposal for the African Union to be a permanent member of the G-20.
“We have tried to include as many countries as possible, most of our invitee countries are from the developing world – we have a very large representation from Africa with Nigeria, Egypt and Mauritius. We also made a proposal for the African Union to be a permanent member of the G-20 and this has been very positively received," Harsh Vardhan Shringla, the chief coordinator for India's G-20 presidency, said.
“India as a developing country has always been engaged with the global south – traditionally and historically we have strong links,” Shringla continued.
“We also worked to address a number of issues of the countries of the global south. The G-20 is a unique opportunity. For the first time, there are four emerging markets, which are Indonesia, India, Brazil, and South Africa. It is a unique opportunity to showcase the voice of the emerging markets, to reshape the world so that the voice of the unheard is heard, and growth is driven,” Kant said for his part.
The world’s economic gravity center has shifted dramatically in the past years. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the share of emerging markets in global trade increased from 32% to 46% between 200 and 2019, while their share of receiving global foreign direct investment (FDI) rose from 15% to 46% and most of the world’s GDP growth occurs in those emerging markets.
Meanwhile, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine looms over the summit, Indian officials confirmed that Kyiv – which is not a member of the G-20 – has not been invited. It was claimed that security issues were addressed by the U.N. Security Council, while the G-20 deals with “growth and development,” which was adversely affected globally by the war in the past years.
The summit, however, is expected to address issues such as energy security, fertilizers and food supply, which are all linked to the Ukraine war.
At last year's G-20 summit in the Indonesian island of Bali, Ukraine was top of the agenda. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an appearance via video call and presented his 10-point peace plan there for the first time.
Host India, which has a neutral stance on the Ukraine war, has invited Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the United Arab Emirates besides G-20 representatives.
India, the most populous country in the world, for its part, is aiming to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027. In 2014 it was the 10th largest, while today it ranks fifth.
