NEW DELHI – India’s presidency of the G-20 grouping provided an opportunity for the developing world to unite at a global forum, said Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
He noted that a key achievement at the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi in 2023 was the admission of the African Union as a permanent member of the group, which focuses on global economic and finance governance.
Dr Jaishankar made the comments at the launch of a book, India And The Future Of G20: Shaping Policies For A Better World, by the Institute of South Asian Studies (Isas) at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
India, in November 2022, took over the G-20 presidency from Indonesia, and handed it over in turn to Brazil in November 2023. South Africa will take over from Brazil in end-2024.
“We are in a singular position of four developing countries having back-to-back presidency of the G-20. We hope to make the most of this,” said Dr Jaishankar at the book launch in New Delhi on Feb 2.
In his speech, he said Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia had played a crucial role in helping India to negotiate a G-20 leaders’ declaration – customary at a leaders’ summit to sum up the progress made on various issues.
Negotiations over the declaration, which was released at the end of the summit held on Sept 9 and 10, went down to the wire with a compromise between Russia and the West to avoid direct criticism of Russia for the war in Ukraine but yet emphasise that states could not grab territory by force.
“I think because the stakes were really high, and the relationship was strong between us and the other G-20 members, we were actually able to get everybody to understand the seriousness of what was at stake,” said Dr Jaishankar.
“So it was, in a way, certainly a victory for diplomacy,” he said.
Dr Jaishankar said the addition of the African Union, which represents 55 African countries, as a new G-20 member has spurred a global debate on multilateralism and United Nations reforms.
India and other developing countries have been seeking a seat on the UN Security Council, noting that developing nations were underrepresented.
The council’s five permanent members are China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States.
“The feeling is that if a body like the G-20 can add a new member, this can act as an inspiration for other bodies,” said Dr Jaishankar, who served as India’s High Commissioner to Singapore from 2007 to 2009.
He also spent a few months at Isas after he retired as a diplomat in 2018, and before he joined politics.
The G-20 book is a compilation of contributions from scholars, policy practitioners and G-20 envoys, including Mrs Tan Ching Yee, Permanent Secretary at Singapore’s Ministry of Finance.
The book looks at a range of topics, including the digital economy, resilient supply chains, climate finance and gender empowerment.
