The G20 summit that kicked off at the Bharat Mandapam convention center in India’s Capital, New Delhi, on September 9 and concluded on September 10, 2023, has been described by many as “extraordinary.” Still, this accomplishment came in the absence and, in some instances, “boycott” of India’s G20 presidency by key G20 members, including China, Mexico, and Russia.
India has been in the spotlight in recent months after Neranda Modi traveled to Johannesburg at the invitation of his South African counterpart, Cyrill Ramaphosa, to attend the BRICS summit that led to the birth of “BRICS+,” an acronym for the new BRICS membership including six newcomers: Egypt, Ethiopia, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran (See my latest article that digested the challenges and opportunities of the BRICS expansion). But most people did not know that India would be the next destination for yet another high-level convention of the leaders of the G20.
Time for India
The perfect time came for India to showcase its leadership to the world amid growing geopolitical and economic crises—the war in Ukraine, coups in West and Central Africa, economic recession in China and around the world, COVID-19, and more. It seems that India did a good job in its first G20 presidency. Last November, the G20 leaders gathered in Bali, Indonesia, to discuss issues of global importance. India was then announced as the next host of the G20. This is the first time India has hosted such a high-level event. China had its turn in 2016 when Beijing chaired the G20 summit in Hangzhou. The United States has hosted the G20 twice, first in November 2008 and again in September 2009 under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, respectively. South Africa, the only African country in the G20, has never had a chance, but speculation is that it might host the 2025 meeting.
India was excited to take this up and spent the past nine months cleaning and beautifying New Delhi. According to a report by the BBC, India’s budget for hosting the G20 exceeded $100 million. This might sound like a lot of money for a two-day event, right? But China spent a whopping $24 billion for its G20 summit in Hangzhou in 2016, the largest budget ever. In fact, India’s G20 revealed value for money. According to Firstpost, an Indian news website, India held 220 pre-summit meetings in about 60 cities, featuring yoga, cultural performances, and specially curated menus. On the day of the meeting, about 43 world leaders and 25,000 delegates from over 115 countries were in India. New Delhi produced 212 outcome documents, way more than any past G20 summit had done.
Speaking to Firstpost, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the next G20 president to be held in Rio de Janeiro, said, “India is teaching a new way” and that “the global south decided to organize itself.” U.S. President Joe Biden, also visiting India for the first time since he assumed office in January 2021, lauded India’s G20 presidency. He said US-India relations are “strong and enduring.” At the same time, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described Modi’s presidency at this year’s G20 summit as “India showing global leadership at the right time.” Rishi is both the first British Asian and the first Hindu prime minister of the United Kingdom and as you would expect, he is proud of India’s global leadership.
What remarkable achievements did India make?
India’s most important accomplishment was the invitation of the African Union as a permanent member of the G20, or what you may call the “G21.” Since the initiation of the G20 in 1999 and subsequent events in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis of 2007 and, in 2009, its designation as the “premier forum for international economic cooperation, only one African country, South Africa, has been a member. With “G21,” South Africa will now enjoy a second seat at the table, but at least all 54 African Union members will get a chance to voice their concerns through the African Union.
This is a step forward in elevating the African continent to the global decision-making table. The next global seat the African Union has been eyeing for a long time is permanent membership in the UN Security Council. Speaking with Firstpost, Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, congratulated the African Union on its entrance to the G20. She believes that the “changes that are occurring are important, but the premier is the United Nations.”
The other achievement was that New Delhi forged the 34-page Joint Declaration amidst challenges. The first challenge was China. First, as highlighted in my past article mentioned in the preceding sections of this piece, China opposed India’s theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future,” which included the Sanskrit phrase 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam' in official documents. To make this even more worrying, Xi’s attendance at the BRICS summit in South Africa and his choice not to turn up in the next-door Indian capital, New Delhi, raised numerous questions. But Xi was not the only G20 leader absent. As you might know, Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot travel abroad due to an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. The Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, was also absent. He was not only absent once but declared his “eternal” absence in 2019 when he missed the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. The Brazilian leader cites “inequality” in present-day international organizations.
With these absences and other initial red flags, there were speculations that the India meeting may not lead to a “Joint Declaration” or communiqué. Russia also threatened to leave the room if India and the G20 members used strong words condemning its invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, the Western media and governments expected the Ukraine crisis to dominate the agenda.
“It’s an illusion that you will just address economic topics. Of course, maybe you can say this for finance ministers and ministers, and you have all those discussions. But when you have leaders, then it becomes more geopolitical. I think it is maybe the only forum where you have this plenary seating of leaders,” an EU official said, quoted by The Wire, a New Delhi newspaper.
Amid all of these, India Maintained a calm demeanor. In the Joint Statement, India’s choice of words maintained a balance. Although Russia said, it was happy with the language of the Joint Declaration, the West, especially the European Union and Ukraine, was not entirely happy. India, throughout the summit, paid less attention to the Ukraine war.
"In terms of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, G20 has nothing to be proud of," criticized Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko, quoted by French newspaper Le Monde.
Prime Minister Modi prioritized the “needs of the global south” and the quest for global stability.
Regarding the joint declarations, one can see a change in the tone of India’s and Indonesia’s 2022 summits, with the latter stronger worded than the former.
In my opinion, India just demonstrated global leadership amid a charged geopolitical and economic atmosphere. What India did raises questions about whether India is better positioned in the global south to lead poor nations than China. In 2016, China never mentioned Africa’s accession to the G20. Indeed, many analysts believe Beijing wants to create a new international system parallel to that of the West. Look at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), and more. It makes sense that China wants Africa’s active participation in those forums instead of the “G” and other Western-dominated ones. India did not want more members of the BRICS. Still, Beijing was overly supportive of expansion, which many believe was a strategy to garner more support for China as it faces off with the West, especially the U.S. As things stand, China and India, although united by the BRICS, G20, and other international forums, remain largely divided. In fact, the “same bed, different dreams” Chinese proverb may suffice. The perfect unity of India and China, which seems unlikely at this point, would be a huge step forward in Beijing’s competition with the West.
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