India’s G20 Leadership Will Require a Delicate Balancing of Priorities Among Member States – The Diplomat

The Pulse | Diplomacy | South Asia

The battle in Ukraine uncovered the fragility of peace but additionally of meals and power safety. For the West, the fragility of European safety took middle stage, whereas for the creating world, the uncertainty of meals and power entry garnered pressing consideration. This yr’s G-20 summit in September in New Delhi is poised to replicate loads of the worldwide division and variations in priorities between the West and creating nations. 

Western nations, comparable to america, are prone to emphasize the Russia-Ukraine battle greater than different points. In the meantime, India’s focus is prone to embody different long-term points that disproportionately affect creating nations, a dedication Prime Minister Narendra Modi affirmed in his speech to the G-20 ministerial gathering. Rising geopolitical impasses may stall significant multilateral motion from the upcoming summit. 

As such, how ought to India go about reaching its G-20 agenda and how much accomplishments can we count on to see?

Total, the G-20 summit may present the best platform for India to set the tone for its rising world management and talk what obligations it desires to bear below that management. Whereas acquiring the G-20 presidency alone is just not essentially an illustration of affect, the sorts of points India chooses to interact in will decide the nation’s skill to indicate efficient management on the G-20.

Modi’s announcement of the G-20 theme, “One Earth, One Household, One Future,” is a sign of India’s try to unite the G-20. Of this formidable agenda, digitalization and meals safety are two focus areas that India mustn’t solely prioritize however are areas the place India will be capable of showcase its personal progress.

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As Western nations endure a large digital transformation, creating nations threat being left behind. The Modi authorities understands the urgency of digitalization and might encourage different creating nations to be self-sufficient and bold towards their objectives for digital transformation in addition to meals safety. India can spotlight its advances, such because the Nationwide Digital ID program and India Millet Initiative and provide creating nations successful story to encourage them to undertake related practices. Because the world’s most populous nation, India’s biometric distinctive identification system is a very highly effective demonstration of how creating nations can benefit from digitalization to drive social innovation. Moreover, India can use the worldwide momentum gained after the U.N. introduced 2023 as “the yr of millets” to encourage using millets as a standard answer for meals safety, particularly within the creating world.

Main the G-20 this yr means holding the eye of nations that account for 85 p.c of world GDP, 75 p.c of worldwide commerce, and two-thirds of the world inhabitants. Whereas final yr’s G-20 summit in Bali addressed a number of points essential to the creating world, the Ukraine battle dominated discussions. To drive the G-20’s consideration to issues disproportionately impacting the creating world, Modi must emphasize, notably to Western nations, that these points will now not be sidelined on the worldwide stage. 

This yr, Russia and China will attempt to steer the dialog away from the Ukraine battle, as evidenced by their rejection of parts of a closing assertion criticizing Russian aggression in Ukraine on the G-20 Finance assembly. Whereas there will not be consensus on Ukraine, the G-20 can nonetheless produce vital outcomes concerning digitalization and meals safety, two world and important points.

India must present that its newfound function because the World South’s voice can coexist with its rising alliance with the West. A belligerent China has aligned India and america on extra fronts than earlier than. India is forging sturdy relationships, such because the Quadrilateral Safety Dialogue, the Quad, with navy and financial powers that can invariably have totally different priorities than creating nations. India now has an opportunity to construct upon the momentum generated finally yr’s G-20 summit to push not just for the World South’s management, but additionally a rebalancing of priorities amongst G-20 members.

India’s G-20 presidency, nevertheless, is not going to be with out challenges. Whereas India’s distinctive relationship with each america and Russia looks like a power to leverage for higher outcomes, the fact is that these divides run deeper than India alone can bridge. On this more and more fractured world the place nations to the West and East interact in strategic competitors, India’s hope to drive inclusivity on the G-20 is not going to be simple. It’ll even have to indicate sturdy credibility for its skill to guide on the problems most vital to the creating world. This G-20 will probably be an essential testbed for whether or not India’s rising financial energy will even afford it a powerful affect on the world degree.

In the end, India’s function because the voice of the World South will must be strategically balanced with the nation’s rising ties with the West to construct a powerful basis for consensus on the G-20. Shaping the multilateral agenda amidst different nationwide pursuits will probably be an essential diplomatic take a look at for India. Overcoming these challenges would be the true attestation of India’s potential as a future world chief.