G20 brings world closer despite constraints

India has much to celebrate its success at the G20 summit which ended in Delhi on Sunday.

The major breakthrough of its diplomacy was consensus upon a Joint Declaration which avoided condemnation of Russia, a long time Indian ally, while calling upon the states ‘to refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state’.

The declaration did not specify Russian aggression into Ukraine. It is quite in contrast to Declaration at the preceding G20 summit at Bali last year which ‘deplored’ Russian aggression.

Russia will have reason to feel satisfied at the softening of the stand on its war against Ukraine. The plan for an ambitious economic corridor linking the India, Middle East and European Union, joining them physically by rail and waterways stands out as the most defining feature in matters of economic cooperation as a counter against China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Though the powerful economic block of G7 nations had visualized the role the BRI would play in imparting China in trade with the global south, a fitting response had so far eluded them.

While it is difficult to speculate as to how the leviathan project would be executed, it can safely be said that the corridor has acted as the quid pro quo for the G7 powers for agreeing to relax their stance towards Russia.

It is not merely a coincidence that the Group agreed to induct the 55-member African Union in response to India’s powerful lobbying for the cause. Africa will be a major beneficiary of the corridor whenever it materialises.

India worked closely with major emerging markets like Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia and Turkiye in clinching the softening of the G20 stance towards Russia which also holds the key to UN-brokered Istanbul Agreement for the effective implementation of the Black Sea Grain deal for ensuring efficient and unobstructed deliveries of grain, foodstuffs and fertilizers from the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

There is no gainsaying that it was the devastating impact of the Russian war against Ukraine that led to food price volatility during the last two years. There have been several other notable gains too.

It was for the first time that a global forum came up with a number i.e., US$5.9 trillion—for the green financing requirement for developing countries for the pre-2030 period as well as the need of US$ 4 trillion annually for transition to clean energy technologies to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

It also endorsed the laying down of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in order to ensure financial inclusion, reduce digital divide and inequality among nations of the global south and recognized the role of India in its development.

It reiterated the need to accelerate the progress towards implementing and attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) slated for 2030 as the current year is the midpoint between 2015 and 2030.

The summit committed itself to restoring at least 30% of all degraded ecosystems and scaling up efforts to achieve land degradation neutrality. India’s Presidency of the Forum received laudable acknowledgment for its proposal for One Future Alliance (OFA), a voluntary initiative aimed to build capacity and provide technical assistance and adequate funding support for implementing DPI.

The G20 Delhi Summit has proved to be an important milestone in the group’s journey towards integration of developing and developed economies and ensuring a world sans economic inequity.