In times of war, economic challenges and various other conflicts, the need of the hour is to make greater use of these platforms for solving problems related to world peace, environmental problems, fiscal challenges, technology etc. — Dr. Ashwani Mahajan

Last year, India hosted the G20 Summit as the chair of the G20 group. This summit was unprecedented in many ways; especially, despite the ongoing challenges, disputes and conflicts at the global level, a consensus declaration was made. Before India assumed G20 presidency, final declaration of G20 Summit under Indonesia’s presidency, criticised Russia in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war. In the 2023 summit under India, we could not only skillfully avoid controversial language about Russia, but also paved the way for open discussion on all the issues facing the world, especially changes in the capital structure in global financial institutions including multilateral development banks, cryptocurrencies, management of global debt problems, issues of financing related to climate change, etc. The G20 group came into existence during the global financial crisis of 2008. The G20 Summit in India was organized with great fanfare. Not only its physical preparations, but also intellectual preparations were done with utmost seriousness.

Based on the principle of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, the Summit’s theme of ‘One Earth, One Family and One Future’ had threaded together the ongoing disputes, conflicts, challenges and issues at the global level. There was a special task to take these objectives forward in the G-20 Summit held in Rio, the capital of Rio Brazil. So it is important to see the discussions and consensuses reached in the G-20 Summit in Brazil in that light as well. The theme of the summit held in Rio, was ‘A Just World and a Sustainable Planet’. At the G-20 Summit, Brazilian President Lula da Silva said that the G-20 Summit 2024 was inspired by India’s presidency last year and an attempt has been made in this summit to match India’s efficiency in organizing the summit.

At the G-20 Summit, the President of Brazil called upon the member nations to raise their climate goals. The G-20 Summit Declaration stressed the need to end the deadlock on climate financing, but this declaration failed to provide clear way forward about its solution. It has to be understood that this deadlock on environmental financing continues, which is not only unfortunate, but also depicts the insensitivity of developed countries to the extremely serious issues like global warming and climate change. Although the Summit Declaration says that it is necessary to increase climate finance from all sources, from billions to trillions of dollars rapidly and adequately, there is no concrete strategy or sensitivity about it. Addressing the first session of the G-20 Summit, ‘Social Inclusion and the Fight Against Hunger and Poverty’, Prime Minister Modi said “India has lifted 25 crore people out of poverty in the last 10 years. We are providing free food grains to 80 crore people. 55 crore people are benefiting from free health insurance. We have given $20 billion (¹ 1.68 trillion) to farmers so far. India is contributing to global food security. Recently, we have provided assistance to countries like Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.”

Prime Minister, in his speech reiterated the relevance of theme of G20 Summit 2023, one earth, one family and one future. Not only this, he also talked about including the African Union in the G20 conference. It has to be understood that this was a significant achievement for the G20, to make it more inclusive and representative. The Prime Minister said that due to the war, there has been a crisis of food, oil and fertilizer in the world and the developing nations (Global South) have been affected the most by the same. It was also underlined in the Prime Minister’s speech that the discussion of the G20 will be successful only when we keep in mind the challenges and priorities of the Global South. Not only this, there was no concrete talk on environmental finance in the G20 conference 2024. People concerned with the subject of environment, are also worried about the fact that nothing related to reducing the use of fossil fuels could come in the declaration. It is worth noting that there is no consensus in the world on the issue of ending the use of fossil fuels. While countries like India are stressing that not only should the use of coal be reduced, but equal emphasis should also be laid on the use of petroleum oil. But most developed countries including the US and Arab countries are also cleverly advocating only the reduction of the use of coal. On the other hand, in the COP-28 conference held in Dubai, countries had agreed to reduce the use of fossil fuels, but environmental activists feel that as there is no mention of the use of fossil fuels in the G-20 declaration, this issue will become even weaker in COP-29.

Important meetings

India’s leadership in any international conference is not limited to the conference only. Such Conference, also give an opportunity to discuss important bilateral issues with other countries, resolve some unresolved matters, strengthen our ties with friendly countries and advance the country’s interests through direct talks with the heads of government of various countries. On this occasion, the Prime Minister of India and various members of the Indian delegation used this opportunity well. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, talks were held not only with the President of Brazil, but also with the Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni on issues like defense, security, trade and technology. Not only this, his meeting with US President Joe Biden was also in the news. Talks were also held with UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer on issues like technology, green energy, security, innovation and emphasis was laid on working together on these areas; and there was also talk of restarting the talks on the free trade agreement with the UK. Apart from this, bilateral talks were also held with the leaders of France, Norway, Portugal and Indonesia. The Prime Minister also met the Norwegian Prime Minister.

Another interesting thing was the bilateral talks between India and China, in which India’s Foreign Minister Jaishankar held talks with his Chinese counterpart. After the decision to withdraw troops from two disputed posts on the India-China border, this is the first time that any official talks have taken place with China on border disputes. It can be understood that this will improve bilateral relations between India and China and bring stability in this region. It is worth noting that there has been a border standoff between India and China for more than 4 years starting from May 2020.

It seems that the importance of the G20 conference is increasing in the last few years and various countries are using the opportunity provided by the presence of heads of government in this conference very seriously to build a consensus on various issues. Be it the G20 conference or the BRICS conference, understanding their increasing importance at the global level, diplomacy experts have started considering them as important global platforms. New equations are also being formed. In times of war, economic challenges and various other conflicts, the need of the hour is to make greater use of these platforms for solving problems related to world peace, environmental problems, fiscal challenges, technology etc.