India will have an opportunity to play a central role in setting the global agenda
India will have an opportunity to play a central role in setting the global agenda
September is a busy month in India’s diplomatic calendar. ‘Senior Officers’ Meeting’ organized in New Delhi on 5-6 September quadWhich includes India, Australia, Japan and America on 8 September, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and their Japanese counterparts held the second India-Japan ‘2+2’ Foreign and Defense Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo to advance strategic cooperation in areas such as joint exercises, defense manufacturing and emerging technologies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 15-16. This will be SCO’s first in-person summit after the COVID-19 pandemic. The visit will be closely watched by the West and India’s quad partners for India’s engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the Russian war in Ukraine has been over six months old. This will also be the first time Mr Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping face-to-face since the People’s Liberation Army violations on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) began in April 2020. Government of India has stated that China will take up remaining issues along the LAC upon completion of decommissioning at Patrolling Point 15 in India and Gogra-Hot Springs; Therefore, any contact with the Chinese leader will be important. India will assume the rotational presidency of the SCO at the end of the Samarkand summit and hold it for a year until September 2023. It will host the SCO summit next year.
It will also preside as the President of the United Nations Security Council for December 2022.
G20. presided over
But before that there will be the 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in Bali in November. After Indonesia, India will assume the presidency of the G20 from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023. It is set to host several ministerial meetings, working groups and events ahead of the G20 Heads of State summit next year.
By hosting the summit of the G20, the world’s most influential economic multilateral forum, India will have the opportunity to take center stage in proposing and setting the global agenda and discourse. The G20 plays a strategic role in achieving global economic growth and prosperity. Together, its members represent more than 80% of the world’s GDP, 75% of international trade, and 60% of the world’s population. It will arguably be the most high-profile event ever organized by India. It will be a test of the country’s leadership ability and diplomatic foresight to organize such a huge event and achieve meaningful results.
In a world ravaged by the pandemic and the Ukraine conflict, the rise of a vocal China, economic challenges such as inflation, terrorism and climate change, to name a few, one needs to see what role India can play under its surveillance. President of the G20. First, India can take cues from Indonesia’s presidency and see how it is managing a group that is deeply divided on various issues. Indonesia has focused on three key pillars: global health architecture, sustainable energy transition and digital transformation. This blueprint can be useful in formulating a comprehensive agenda for India.
India can lay claim to its political, economic and intellectual leadership by hosting the presidency of the G20. But this requires a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, we have the West, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the G7 partner nations setting the agenda. And on the other hand, we have an emerging nexus between China and Russia, who are taking a different view from the first group. India may be caught in the middle as it is part of both the Quad and the SCO which are to some extent located on opposite sides of the geopolitical spectrum. Therefore, India may have to address issues that help bridge the emerging divide in the world order.
Despite the noise and conflicting views on this forum, India can find a common ground to set its G20 agenda by addressing issues of global concern. At the same time, it needs to promote its specific priorities related to domestic and regional issues such as economic recovery, trade and investment, unemployment, patent exemption on diagnostics, medical science, vaccines to combat COVID-19 and terrorism. More specifically, India can collaborate more with several G20 members such as the EU, UK and Canada, which will accelerate their coordination on realizing free trade agreements. The broader issues may relate to creating a road map for accelerated global economic recovery, focusing on supply chain resilience mechanisms and emphasizing green and digital transformations in the economy and its impact on social well-being. This will ensure a sustainable and inclusive growth for the global economy.
The G20 is a unique global institution, where developed and developing countries are of equal stature. It also provides India with an opportunity to support the cause of developing and least developed countries by ensuring that the summit is not a Western-dominated high table gathering or a place where major economies share their aspirations on the world. imposes. India can invite and engage countries from Africa and South America to ensure better and more balanced representation in the G20. Areas such as technology transfer, aid for a green economy, greater access to trade for developing countries, addressing the debt crisis of countries by offering sustainable aid and loan programs, tackling food and energy prices/security for vulnerable economies, etc. may be relevant. As India’s Chief G20 Coordinator and former Foreign Secretary, Harsh V. Shringla recently said, “Our G20 Presidency will put India on the global stage, and provide India with an opportunity to put its priorities and narratives on the global agenda. “
a trial time
The coming months will be a testing time for Indian foreign policy and diplomacy as the country prepares to host the G20 and SCO summits next year. India will be central in highlighting the key priority areas and ensuring that the platform does not become a mere ‘talk shop’ but a ‘walk-in-shop’ in terms of meaningful actions and outcomes. Only this will give credibility to India’s important role in the international community.
On the 75th year of its independence, India can begin to formulate a meaningful agenda and contribute to the international community. Its role in broking or breaking deals could define the path of global discourse and collaboration for years and decades to come.
Rajesh Mehta is a leading international affairs specialist and Mohit Anand is Professor of International Business and Strategy at EMLYON Business School, France.