Prof: Neelam Mahajan Singh
See you in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2024! India has attracted the attention of the whole world by successfully organizing the G-20 Summit-2023 in New Delhi. Within 10 months, more than 200 G-20 meetings were held in 60 cities across the country. Harsh Vardhan Shringla, I.F.S. – former Foreign Secretary, GOI and Chief Coordinator of the G-20 Summit, Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, along with the tremendous hard work of the Ministry of External Affairs officials, the Summit sent positive vibes. The New Delhi Summit acquired a historic proportion. In it’s last phase on 9-10 September, all the heads of states, met in Delhi to brainstorm on global issues. They resolved to deal with the global challenges. The G-20 Summit 2023 ended with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address. All the countries praised and thanked India for its leadership and gracious hospitality. India achieved a consensus amongst the world leaders on a ‘joint declaration’. India successfully maintained it’s friendship with time tested friend; Russia. India did not allow Russia’s war with Ukraine to be ‘specifically mentioned in The Delhi Declaration’. This is being considered as a diplomatic victory for India. So to say! India has made the world realize it’s strength under the guise of G-20 Summit. India was given the presidency of G-20 in Bali, capital of Indonesia in November 2022. PM Narendra Modi had called it a ‘matter of pride for India’ and had said that India’s G-20 presidency will be ‘action oriented’. India was given the responsibility of chairing the G-20 Summit at a time when the world is recovering from economic challenges, geo-political conflicts and panedemics like Corona. At such a time, the world was looking forward towards G-20 with expectations. India has ignited hopefulness to the world through this conference. This summit has given the message of ‘peace and harmony instead of wars’. Brazilian President, Lula Da Silva gave a statement in support of Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. PM Modi said, India’s G-20 presidency has become a symbol of global inclusiveness with ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’ all over the world. In these, meetings, topics like Business-20 (B-20), Culture-20 (C-20), Environment-20 (E-20) were taken up. The priorities of the G-20 Summit were taken to every part of India so as to give India’s Presidency a new definition, with people’s participation. Apart from yoga and cultural programs, a special food cousin was also included. India organized G-20 meetings in ‘tier two cities’, which created discussions amongst the common man and made people feel proud of the country. India’s unity in diversity and progess was showcased to the world. More than 1.5 crore people in the country participated in these programmes to become aware of various aspects. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an interview, “India has built up the capacity in terms of infrastructure, logistics, communication skills, hospitality and cultural activities”. G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, said that 29 specially invited countries and 11 international organizations participated in this conference. ‘One Family, One Earth, One Future’ was the theme of G-20 Summit. On its very first day, all the countries agreed to issue a ‘joint declaration’, which was indeed a challenging task. India invited Spain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bangladesh, Egypt, Netherlands, Mauritius, Nigeria and Singapore as special invitees to the G-20 summit. India proposed to include the African Union (AU) of 54 countries in the G-20 and demonstrated its diplomatic skills by getting the consensus of all participant countries. When India first took the initiative to include the African Union in the G-20, even the President of the African Union did not expect everyone to agree to this proposal. Till now, no country has held G-20 meetings in more than two of their cities. PM Modi held bilateral meetings with U.S. President, Joe Biden and other global leaders. In these, he had face-to-face talks with the heads of state of Brazil, Turkey, Germany, European Council, Comoros, Korea, Nigeria, Netherlands, Canada, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, America, Mauritius, Bangladesh. India gave the message of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ i.e. ‘The whole world is one family’ in the G-20 Summit. Many important decisions were taken in the G-20 Summit on economic development, financial stability, climate change and other global challenges. Tributes were paid to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. The message of ‘non-violence and peace was given to the entire world’. It took a team of relentless Indian diplomats who continuously negotiated with the participating nations to reach a consensus on the G-20 Summit 2023 – Delhi Declaration. The most contentious part of the G-20 was to build a consensus on the geopolitical paragraph pertaining to Russia-Ukraine War. The G-20 Delhi Declaration announcement avoided mentioning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. All countries were called upon to follow the principle of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty of each nation. “We call on all states to uphold the principles of international law, including territorial integrity, sovereignty, international human rights and the multilateral system that protects peace and stability,” the Declaration said. In the G-20 manifesto all the countries have condemned terrorism of any kind, unequivocally. There was also a statement on ending cases of religious hatred; such as destruction of sacred texts and religious places. Funds will be given to the fastest growing cities in the world. ‘One Future Alliance’ is formed on India’s initiative. ‘Global Biofuel Alliance’ has been launched. India, America and Brazil will be the members of this alliance. These countries have an important role in ethanol production. It will also be supported by organizations like the World Economic Forum, International Energy Forum and International Energy Agency. Emphasis was placed on the priorities of the Global South. Discussions were held towards making a global policy on crypto currency. ‘India-Middle East-Europe; Economic Corridor’ has been announced. This includes India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, European Union, France, Italy, Germany and America. A historic initiative has been taken on the basic infrastructure, including shipping and railway links through this corridor. The next meeting of the G-20 will be held in the Brazilian city of Rio De Janeiro in 2024. Prime Minister Narendra Modi transferred the chairmanship of the G-20 to Brazilian President Lula and handed over the traditional gavel (a type of hammer). Brazil will officially take over the presidency of the G-20 on December 1 this year. On India’s proposal, the African Union in New Delhi has been included in this group. In this situation it has become G-21. In Rio-de-Janeiro it will be named ‘G-21’. PM Modi said, “Wars have deepened the lack of trust. Together we will transform the global trust deficit into one of confidence. This is the time for everyone to move together”. There are some burning issues facing the world, which are affecting the present and future of all countries. We are familiar with the challenges of cyber security and crypto currency. Global standards will have to be developed to regulate it. International cooperation and framework is needed for cyber security. Terrorism is getting new mediums and new methods of funding from the cyber world. To take the world towards a better future, it is necessary that global systems be in accordance with the realities of the present. In retrospect, it has to be accepted that The New Delhi-2023 G-20 Summit, has given a positive message of peace, friendship, harmony, women empowerment, human rights protection, economic and social development. See you next year in Brazil, with the hope that the Delhi Declaration would be actualized.
(Prof. Neelam Mahajan Singh is Sr. Journalist, Author, International Strategic Affairs Expert, Doordarshan Personality, Solicitor for Human Rights Protection and Philanthropist)
singhnofficial@gmail.com
