Story Highlights
- Maintaining its primacy as an effective instrument of global governance,India can be expected to build the agenda around an inclusive and balanced post-pandemic recovery through vaccine aid and diplomacy, as the pandemic has affected many developing countriesand severely maimed crucial tourism industries.
Dr. Arvind Kumar*
India’s assumption of the G20 presidency entails both challenges and opportunitiesand the present leadership of India is capable of meeting the challenges deftly and unlock opportunities for the benefit of humankind in general and India in particular.
India dons the mantle of G20 presidency at a time when the entire world is grappling with geopolitical tensions along with global economic slowdown. The G20, since its emergence in 1999, has played a crucial role in maneuvering the economy, envisaging a new global financial architecture, and steering clear the roadblocks hindering economic development. Also known as a ‘multilateral economic caucus’, the G20 has served as a platform for both developed and emerging economies to constructive dialogue.
Challenges
Currently, there are major five challenges confronting the world that the G20 can attempt to fix. Firstly, the elephant in the room is the Russia-Ukraine conflict, wherein India needs to think constructively and sensitively to nudge both, the West and Russia, to de-escalate the tension. The second pressing issue is the phenomenal spike in international prices of oil, natural gas, and food grains along with the high price rise in fertilizers, which has culminated in the resultant plunge into wider inflation across the globe. And many experts opine that this issue entails the likelihood of settling down of its own once the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine cease.
The third challenge is energy, wherein the hot virtue-signaling economics needs to be overhauled and more importantly, the cold politics of discomfort needs to be done away with.The Russia-Ukraine crisis has caused tremendous disruptions in the supply chains of energy supplies on account of Western sanctions on Russia and blockade of supply routes coupled with the Russian ban on the supply of oil and gas to European countries. The UN-brokered agreement recently for allowing the shipment of food grains from Ukraine offers a precedent for arriving at another such agreement to work out some arrangements facilitating the supply of Russian gas to Europe and G20 seems an appropriate forum in this regard.
The fourth challenge is of job creation and environment management, and G20 can act as a forum to exchange experiences on societal benefits and new trends in entrepreneurship, business innovation, growth of startups as unicorns, and gender progress as this collaborative approach would lead to the fresh impetus for innovative thinking. The fifth and major challenge is public health under which the rapidly growing menace of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) which needs new antibiotics and R&D collaboration among biotechnology facilities demands reasonable deliberation. Furthermore, India should seek collaboration on limited focus areas around science and technology as the global agenda has been skewed towards investment, whereas science and technology are the catalysts for economic diversification, sustainably urbanizing the world, heralding the hydrogen economy and climate resilient crop varieties as the answer to both human well-being and global climate change.
The immediate challenge confronting India and coinciding with its assumption of the G20 presidency is the mounting pressure from the Western countries that are members of G20 to exclude Russia from the forum. Deployment of diplomatic, political, economic, and military tactics to isolate Russia by Western countries is also finding support from countries like Australia and Japan. Keeping in view its energy and defence needs, India cannot afford any move to isolate Russia because of its strategic compulsions. India has operated under the framework of its strategic autonomy in foreign policy, and the Indian leadership in its dialogue with the US leadership has conveyed its decision of being not to be pushed back against any potential pressure on its ties with Moscow. Under this scenario, it devolves on India to be prepared for a deftly crafted position as it prepares to lead the G20 meet in the ensuing year from the front.
Opportunities
India has been proactive in the G20 processes in the sherpas and finance track. G20’s continuous push for global cooperation, inclusivedevelopment, economic stability, and sustainable growth is in consonance with India’s domestic goals and principles vouched by other leaders of the G20. During its presidency in 2023, it is essential for India neither to overstress nor underestimate the significance of the G20 work. The G20 represents nearly 90% of the world’s GDP, 80% of the global trade, and 67% of the Planet’s population due to which it carries enormous political and economic influence. Maintaining its primacy as an effective instrument of global governance,India can be expected to build the agenda around an inclusive and balanced post-pandemic recovery through vaccine aid and diplomacy, as the pandemic has affected many developing countriesand severely maimed crucial tourism industries.
According to the World Bank, global growth is estimated to slow down considerably from 5.5 % in 2021 to 4.1 % in 2022 and 3.2% in 2023 as backlogged demand fritters and fiscal and monetary support are phased across the world. Presiding G20 Forum in 2023 is a fitting aspiration and a welcome challenge for India. A major economy and a developing nation with an evolving democracy, holding its head high into the 76th year of its independence, India has the unique opportunity to set ‘Agenda 2023’ with a focus on equitable green, and resilient recovery. To espouse the troika, India can exhibit the standards, practices, and policies being nurtured to align with 1.50 C degree target, adaptation readiness for building resilience, and strongly underscore the need for industrialized countries of the bloc to do much more. It affords ample opportunity for India to sculpt and put forward an alternate economic model- one that is built on decentralization
As per the Ministry of External Affairs, India will strengthen international support for priorities of vital importance to developing countries in diverse social and economic sectors, ranging from energy, agriculture, trade, digital economy, health, and environment to employment, tourism, anti-corruption campaign, and women empowerment, including in focus areas that impact the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.
A single-year presidency does not empower the host to change the world but India can provide evidence of its domestic successes, for global adoption. G20 partnership must synthesize divergent interests of all the constituents of the forum and leverage the ability to develop multi- layered governance through access to experts, civil society, politicians, policymakers, and other non-state actors. The platform provides an opportunity for India to work closely on pressing global challenges, where their approach may not be similar but are, in essence, the same. As India assumes the leadership of the G20 presidency in 2023, it must play a crucial role in spearheading the economic growth and development strategy for not just India but the entire global South.
Way Forward
Some observers feel that in view of the prevalent profound disagreements and persistent tensions between and among the G20 members, the prospects of cooperation among them look bleak. Nevertheless, India should ensure that the G20 can at least provide a sense of leadership for the diminution, if not resolution, oftensions and of multilateral disputes. The establishment of the G20 Secretariat in India entails the potential of enabling capacity building, including knowledge and expertise for rendering support to India’s leadership on and contribution to global issues in multilateral fora in the coming years. India’s hosting of the G20 presidency also affords opportunities in multiple sectors like tourism, hospitality, IT, and civil aviation among others. India’s policy of prioritizing international peace to ensure national security is essential to enable global financial stability, address climate change mitigation, and ensure sustainable development. As India braces for its first presidency of G20, which is just a few months away, there is room for both caution and leadership.
*President, India Water Foundation
