India and the G20: bridging global divides

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Delhi G20 Summit concluded successfully on Sunday. The two-day summit received approbation for conveying the “message of unity,” and the outcomes were referred to as “truly meaningful achievement.” India received praise for skillfully and efficiently conducting the proceedings.

There was considerable skepticism about whether there would be a concluding leaders’ declaration given the divergent opinions on the Ukraine war among the members of the Group of Twenty. Confounding such thinking, the Delhi Declaration, with 83 paragraphs, was adopted with consensus.

After prolonged and painstaking negotiations, a declaration reaffirming territorial integrity, sovereignty, and international law citing the UN Charter, Security Council, and General Assembly resolutions, was unanimously agreed upon by all member countries.

Trend toward multipolarity
The inclusion of the African Union (AU) as a member of the G20 was a significant outcome of the Delhi Summit. With a combined GDP of about US$3 trillion and a population of 1.4 billion, Africa is not merely a significant provider of natural resources but a continent with many emerging economies.

Since the European Union was already a member, there was a precedent for the inclusion of the AU. It is expected that the AU will bring pan-African issues and will increase the diversity of voices in the G20 conversations.

Over the years, India has been making persistent efforts to include African countries in various initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance. In the recent past, India proactively worked for the inclusion of Egypt and Ethiopia in the BRICS. It should be noted that India’s G20 meetings witnessed the highest number of African participants.

The India-Africa partnership is rooted in a common understanding of the need to build an equitable global economic order and a history of anti-colonial resistance.

For a continent that has experienced the harshness of colonialism and neo-colonial policies, membership in the premier economic platform is a welcome shift. G20 membership alone may not change the fortunes of Africa, but it amounts to recognition of Africa’s growth potential.

The inclusion of the AU in the G20 also indicates a nascent shift in the policies of the developed countries. Growing multipolarity is pushing many developed countries to reimagine their engagement with African countries.

Getting developing countries to participate in open and transparent economic and connectivity frameworks is also in the interest of the developed West.

For instance, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, at an event on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, announced the launch of the Trans-African Corridor. The proposed corridor seeks to improve linkages of the landlocked region to the sea by connecting the “port of Lobito in Angola with Katanga province in the [Democratic Republic of Congo] and the copper belt in Zambia.”

In a related development, the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) on the sidelines of the G20 Summit was a significant development. The IMEC memorandum of understanding was signed by the EU, France, Germany, India, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the US.

The IMEC envisages massive investments in infrastructure and connectivity projects such as ports, ship-to-rail transit linkages, electricity networks, digital cables, and pipelines to transport clean hydrogen. The IMEC has the potential to contribute to the emergence of resilient and reliable global supply chains.

Over the past few years, the Arab countries have scaled up their engagement with various powers across the world. The IMEC deal indicates the consolidation of diversified international engagement of the energy-rich Arab countries.

The IMEC also points to the importance of Arab countries to the Indo-Pacific region. The energy, digital and infrastructure cooperation with the Arab countries is critical for the prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region.

The IMEC is also a consequence of a substantive improvement in the relations between India and the Arab countries. India’s economic ties with Arab states are growing, evident in the increased investment, trade and movement of people.

Most recently, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and the Instant Payment Platform (IPP) of the UAE have been linked to facilitate easy, safe and cost-effective cross-border financial transactions between the two countries. There are growing defense relations and, if not a complete but substantive convergence, of strategic visions between India and the Arab countries.

In another significant development, the Global Biofuel Alliance was launched on the sidelines of the G20. The GBA seeks to leverage global collaboration to ensure biofuels remain affordable, have secure supply lines, are sustainably produced and receive sustained technical support. The initiation of the GBA is in consonance with the G20 principles of promoting low-emission development strategies.

Climate policy
On climate change, the G20 called on the developed countries to meet the “goal of mobilizing jointly US$100 billion climate finance per year by 2020, and annually through 2025.”

Over the past year, there was considerable progress on sustainability issues, which was evident in the adoption of Chennai High-Level Principles for a Sustainable and Resilient Blue/Ocean-based Economy. Similarly, Deccan High-Level Principles on Food Security and Nutrition were also adopted.

For India, sustaining higher growth rates mandates robust international economic engagement. The G20 Summit constituted a moment when large masses of people were engaged with global issues, which is essential for a continued and intelligent embrace of globalisation.

There are a few important takeaways from the recently concluded G20 Summit. First, while the G20 is a premier global economic forum, geopolitical issues will continue to impact its functioning. The success of future G20 summits will be contingent on building coalitions of like-minded countries to address geo-economic and geopolitical issues.

Second, on the sidelines of G20, Brazil, India, South Africa and the United States issued a joint statement regarding their aspiration to “build better, bigger, and more effective multilateral development banks.” Such interactions suggest that there is now a recognition that, given growing multipolarity and complex conflicts, no single multilateral framework can address all the challenges.

Third, at the G20, with considerable prodding from the emerging economies, the West demonstrated its willingness to accommodate the views of the developing South. However, the West must continue this trend by giving emerging powers a seat at the high table in global institutions.

Finally, the G20 was organized in the context of a growing trust deficit caused by big-power rivalry, increased territorial assertions, and the emergence of non-traditional security challenges.

The Delhi G20 Summit demonstrated that an engaged leadership and spirit of collaboration among member countries could go a long way in building bridges across divides to address complex global problems. (ASIA TIMES)