Akash Kumar
The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier forum for the global economic corporation. The forum has met annually since 1999, and since 2008, leaders have gathered for a G20 Leaders’ Summit every year. It provides a unique platform because there is no parallel inter-governmental forum that includes major developed and emerging economies. The members include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), and the European Union (EU). If we talk about some important points of G20, we find that these countries comprise 85% of the global GDP, 75% of international trade, and 60% of the world’s population, making it a premium forum for the international economic corporation.
The current, prior, and upcoming G20 presidents (India, Indonesia and Brazil), together known as the Troika, support the presidency. Interestingly, the troika would include three developing nations and rising economies for the first time, giving them a stronger voice at a time when the fundamentals are shifting quickly into a reset mode. The G20 has two parallel tracks: the Finance Track, which is led by the finance ministers and central bank governors of the member nations, and the Sherpa Track (personal emissaries of the leaders).
Let’s now discuss India’s presidency of the G20. When the Indonesian President handed over the presidency of the G20 to the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in Bali, he tweeted, “India will assume the G-20 Presidency for the coming year. Our agenda will be inclusive, ambitious, decisive, and action-oriented. We will work to realize all aspects of our vision of One Earth, One Family, One Future.” However, India’s impending accession of the presidency from 1 December 2022 cannot be seen as a standard change of guard in an international organization due to the following factors:
* Timing: The world is currently experiencing a period of tremendous geopolitical and geoeconomic stress and strain, including the post-pandemic transition and the Russia-Ukraine war.
* Threats to multilateralism: Multilateralism, the previously recognized formula for maintaining global stability, is now being questioned as the globe faces numerous global issues.
* India’s growing influence and credibility: There is an increasing awareness of India’s leadership skills and its ability to fend off partisan pressure from both sides.
* Due to these factors, we can claim that India’s G20 presidency at this moment is quite crucial since it will give India a suitable platform to demonstrate its strong policies. However, aside from these, India will also confront numerous issues as a result of this presidency, and our policymakers will also need to understand how important it is to address these problems since they will continue to be concerned at some point. Some difficulties that India will experience include:
* Given that India is not a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and that the use of nuclear weapons is becoming more and more possible, how can we exert pressure on other nations to refrain from using nuclear weapons?
* Can we, given our own dissatisfaction with the UN and the failure of governments to address the threats to peace and stability, propose meaningful ideas for international institutions for the ensuing decades?
* Can we persuade the world to reconsider our current economic system, which only serves to highlight extremes in both riches and poverty?
* Can we persuade the world to reconsider the foundations of democracy?
* How can we all work to guarantee that the poorest and most vulnerable countries continue to make progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
* The function of multilateral institutions in addressing global issues.
* Europe’s position on Asian nations and its concerns on the China and India issue.
* Receiving the G20 presidency is, without a question, a golden opportunity for our nation to represent its objectives of becoming a Vishvaguru. But just as it is true that greater power comes with greater responsibility, India also has greater responsibility for making the most use of this chance and implementing policies that serve the interests of all peoples.
(The author is a student of Journalism and Media Studies, University of Jammu)
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