India makes strides as G20 Chair by performing a balancing act

India, which currently holds the Presidency of the G20, has made an impressive amount of efforts towards world sustainability especially in areas of Green Development, Climate Finance and Accelerating progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as World Peace.

India will lead the G20 under the visionary leadership and guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023. The 43 Heads of Delegations- the largest ever in G20-will be participating in the final New Delhi Summit in September this year.

The country has been hosting a series of events to achieve G20 goals and under this programme, the first meeting of the G20 Anti-corruption Working Group (ACWG) was held from March 1 to March 3 in Gurugram.

One of the special and unique features of India taking over G20 is cultural values the country has embedded into the organisation to achieve its sustainable goals.

The theme of India’s G20 Presidency - “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or “One Earth · One Family · One Future” - is drawn from the ancient Sanskrit text of the Maha Upanishad. Essentially, the theme affirms the value of all life – human, animal, plant, and microorganisms – and their interconnectedness on the planet Earth and in the wider universe.

The theme is also associated with environmentally sustainable and responsible choices, both at the level of individual lifestyles as well as national development, leading to globally transformative actions resulting in a cleaner, greener and bluer future.

In terms of Green Development and Climate Finance, India will be giving climate change a key priority, with a particular focus towards not only climate finance and technology, but also ensuring just energy transitions for developing nations across the world.

Against this backdrop, the Arctic Institute said India’s G20 Presidency is also an opportunity to resume focus on the Arctic and its impact on the world .

The Arctic and the Himalayas, though geographically distant, are interconnected and share similar concerns.

The Arctic meltdown is helping the Indian scientific community to better understand the glacial melt in the Himalayas, which has often been referred to as the ‘third pole’ and has the largest freshwater reserves after the North and South Poles.

Eight G20 countries–China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom–are Observers at the Arctic Council.

“No other country and organisation other than India and G20 fit the bill,” the Arctic Institute said.

Apart from global warming and climate change, maintaining world peace is also crucial to sustainability of the world. Most of the leading countries except India have openly endorsed either Russia or Ukraine over the conflict between the two countries. However, India has resorted to a middle path and has managed to think about both sides without endorsing one camp.

This is how the recently-concluded G20 foreign ministers' meeting, held on March 1-2 in New Delhi gave the representatives from G20 nations the opportunity to thrash out solutions to many of the issues which are of common concern to them and the entire global community including the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Many believe that it is due to to India's credit that disparate voices came to the G20 negotiating table and aired their views, including China and Russia.

However, both Russia and China declined to sign the joint statement, which criticized Moscow’s invasion. That left India to issue a “chair’s summary and outcome document” in which it summed up the two days of talks and acknowledged disagreements.

Despite this unexpected outcome, analysts still believe that throughout the war, New Delhi has deftly balanced its ties to Russia and the West, with PM Modi emerging as a leader who has been courted by all sides.

A new working group on Disaster Risk Reduction will also be established under India's Presidency to encourage collective work by the G20, undertake multi-disciplinary research and exchange best practices on disaster risk reduction.

Meanwhile, India has made sure that G20 meetings will not be limited only to New Delhi or other metropolises. Accordingly, India will host over 200 meetings in over 50 cities across 32 different workstreams, and would have the opportunity to offer G20 delegates and guests a glimpse of India's rich cultural heritage and provide them with a unique Indian experience.  

India’s special invitee guest countries are Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and UAE.

G-20’s invited international organisations are UN, IMF, World Bank, WHO, WTO, ILO, FSB, OECD, AU Chair, NEPAD Chair, ASEAN Chair, ADB, ISA and CDRI.

India's G20 Presidency collides with the crucial midpoint of the UN 2030 Agenda on SDGs. As such, India acknowledged the detrimental impact of COVID-19, which changed the current decade of action into a decade of recovery. In line with this perspective, India said it wants to focus on recommitting G20's efforts to achieving the targets laid out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The G20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), and the European Union (EU).

G20 accounts for 85 per cent of global GDP, 75 per cent of international trade and two-thirds of the world population, making it a premier forum for international economic cooperation.