G-20 and Indian presidency

India officially took over the G-20 Presidency from Indonesia on December 1, 2022. Shortly before it, at the G-20 Summit held in Bali on November 15–16, Indonesian President Joko Widodo handed over the wooden gravel to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, symbolizing the passing on of the G-20 leadership to the next rotating Chair, India. PM Modi stated that India’s Presidency would be ‘inclusive, ambitious, decisive and action oriented’. But what does the G-20 Presidency mean for India’s foreign policy and the world at large?

The background
G-20 forms a core of the global economic and financial governance system. It was conceived in the G-7 Summit in June 1999 and established on September 26 that year, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Unlike the G-7, where except Japan, all other states are advanced western countries of the Global North, the G-20 is a group of 19 countries and the European Union (EU), comprising more than 85% of the global GDP, nearly 80% of international trade and two-thirds of the world population. At the structural level, each year, the Presidency sets up a secretariat in its home country and closely coordinates with the outgoing and incoming Presidency, in combination, referred to as the Troika. In terms of mechanism, G-20 functions through two main channels -- the Sherpa Track and the Finance Track. Additionally, there are the ministerial group, working group and engagement group formats at work. As a part of the G-20, there are various layered interactions and events hosted all year round, to discuss common issues of both developed and developing countries.

What the G-20 means for India?
Two reasons make India’s G-20 Presidency significant. Firstly, in general, with India’s taking over as the Chair of G-20, for the first time, the troika, comprising Indonesia, India and Brazil, is wholly representative of developing states. This elevates the image of the G-20 as a genuine representative of the Global South and as a forum that fills up the gap of its forerunner, the G-7 group. This also translates to the fact that issues of the Global South have a better chance to find increased space in the G-20 agenda as well as witness effective implementation.

Secondly, for India, the Presidency of the G-20 bestows a leadership position upon it like never before. Added with India’s position as the Chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) since September 2022, its image as a global leader stands highlighted. To be also noted is the fact that these positions come at a time when India is commemorating 75 years of its independency, themed around the phrase ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. Along with the ongoing celebration, within the duration of the next one year, India will be hosting over 200 meetings, in as many as 50 cities and receiving delegations from various parts of the world, to take part in the G-20 meetings and events. For example, the first Sherpa meeting under India’s Presidency was hosted in the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan, from December 4 to 7. For a week, up to

December 7, 100 monuments in various parts of the country, including UNESCO sites (such as the Tipu Sultan Palace in Mysore, Modhera Sun Temple in Gujarat, Konark Temple in Odisha, Sher Shah Suri’s Tomb in Bihar, Taj Mahal in Agra, etc.) remained illuminated with the G-20 logo. As such, the hosting of the G-20 enables India to showcase its essence as a country with vibrant cultures, dynamic people, economic prowess and an able rule-shaper of the emerging global world order.

Not that India has not hosted international events of global importance before. Of them, the Seventh Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) Summit in 1983 was a remarkable event hosted by India. As K. Natwar Singh, the

General Secretary of the Summit stated, “the Seventh Non-Alignment Summit attracted the largest number ever assembled on one occasion of heads of state and government from the non-aligned world when it met in Delhi”. Delegates from about 140 states participated that year. Yet, as the Bali Declaration, released at the G-20 Summit in 2022 notes, the current times are mired in ‘unparalleled multidimensional crises’, with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic still visible, accompanied by the geopolitical tensions brought forth by the Russia-Ukraine war. Added to this is the fact that today India is the fifth largest economy (after overtaking the UK in September 2022), the second most populous nation and the largest democratic state in the world. This means, the expectations from India are high, especially given that G-20 is a forum that brings under its umbrella the P-5 of the UNSC, all G-7 and BRICS members, making it a very powerful grouping. This is what makes India’s role as Chair of the G-20 both challenging and filled with opportunities all at once. How India manages this balance will certainly have an impact on India’s global position in the near future.

What is India’s agenda at the G-20? 
On November 8, 2022, Prime Minister Modi released the theme of India’s G-20 Presidency – Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam or ‘One Earth One Family One Future’.  The logo with a lotus, India’s national flower, underneath the image of the earth, is made to compliment the theme for the year, and reflects on India’s ‘pro-planet approach to life’. PM Modi, writing in an article published on December 1, 2022 also noted that India’s G-20 Presidency is aimed at moving towards a paradigm of ‘human-centric globalization’ where the world is based on ‘healing, harmony and hope’. This clearly indicates India’s vision, that this era is not meant for war but for facing common challenges together.

Among the greatest challenges in today’s times, climate change, terrorism and pandemic stand highlighted by India. With regard to the first problem, India calls for making a collective journey with equity and climate justice as the guiding principles. India has already taken some steps in this regard. For instance, it launched Mission LiFE, i.e. Lifestyle for Environment, at the COP-26 in 2021, promoting the need to make a shift towards ‘mindful and deliberate utilization, instead of mindless and destructive consumption’. Here, the concept of Panchamrit was also underlined, one that enumerates five goals of India’s climate action plan. In the context of terrorism, as head of the UN-Global Counter Terror Committee this year, India aims at ‘countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes’ and promotes the idea of ‘no money for terror’ to deal with issues of terror financing. Similarly, during the COVID-19 crisis in the last two years, while a more robust global response was left wanting, on its part, India launched the Maitri initiative in January 2021, supplying vaccines to neighboring states and other related supplies and doses to 150 countries by December last year. As part of the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), India is committed to supporting equitable access of vaccines for all. Today, 96 countries share mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificate with India. India’s digital interventions at home during COVID-19 pandemic, such as the Aarogya Setu and CoWIN platforms, reflect on India’s vision for bringing about digital transformation. Besides, in view of some common problems, especially faced by the Global South, India has offered specific suggestions. For example, at the SCO Summit in September, PM Modi suggested the cultivation and consumption of millets, to address the problem of food security, particularly given that 2023 is marked as the UN International Year of Millet. This was reiterated at the Bali Summit by India. Given such ongoing efforts on India’s part, India will continue to strive for addressing these common challenges through its leadership at the G-20.

At a special briefing for G-20 delegates and invitees held in Swaraj Deep on November 26 at Andaman and Nicobar Islands, six common priority areas were enumerated, which are as follows: (i) public digital goods and digital infrastructure; (ii) climate action, climate finance and technology collaborations; (iii) clean, sustainable, just, affordable, and inclusive energy transition; (iv) accelerated progress on sustainable development goals; (v) women-led development; and (vi) multilateral reforms. These provide a framework for the issues to be deliberated upon, along 32 different work streams, through both tracks of the G-20, as mentioned earlier. It must be noted that some of these issues are a continuation of the past efforts made by G-20. For instance, ‘digital transformation’ was a priority sector under the Indonesian Presidency, where the Digital Economy Task Force was upgraded to a Digital Economy Working Group in 2022. As it is, the pandemic brought out the irrevocability of the digital economy, something that the G-20 forum has been discussing and that India well acknowledges and invests into. Similarly, Agenda 2030 for the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is a continuing theme, though finding innovative means to achieve this is being discussed under the Indian Presidency. At the first Sherpa meeting on  December 4, 2022, it was noted that ‘India’s innovative approaches, tools and experiences in areas such as digital transformation especially “data for development”, just green transition, women-led development, and economic growth for SDGs offer a variety of good practices and lessons learned, from which other nations can benefit to address their own challenges to SDG acceleration’.

However, one issue that is being urgently pushed by India through the G-20 is that of reforms in multilateral institutions, starting with reforms at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), where India’s membership of a permanent seat at the Council is long due. The UNSC is stuck with the biases of the 1945 architecture. Not only does it deny countries such as India, Germany, Japan and Brazil, i.e. G-4 states, its deserved position in the Council, but it fails to have adequate representation of the Global South. India also considers it unfair that Africa, which appears in more than 50% of the UN agenda, has no permanent representation at the Council. Similarly, India hopes to reform and refresh global institutions that are in need for institutional strength and structural changes, including the WTO, ILO, WHO and others. At the WTO for instance, the growing challenges caused due to individual fiscal measures taken by countries trying to deal with economic impact of COVID and their unilateral tendencies to increase tariff has made reforms a must.

Conclusion
The main argument India puts forward through the G-20, as has been doing through many forums in the recent years, is the need to deal with common problems in a more effective, inclusive and sustainable manner. The best way to do so is to identify that the world, as it moves towards a multipolar order, needs to work through multilateral institutions and framework. While continuing to support the rule-based institutions and global norms that exist, there is a need however to reform multilateral institutions, to provide it with a new life that reflects the changes and challenges of the times, something that India is confident of leading through the G-20 Presidency. The results will clearly show only at the G-20 Summit in New Delhi to be held in September 2023.

(Dr Shrabana Barua is a research fellow at Indian Council for World Affairs, New Delhi.)