By Prof. Gulshan Sachdeva
India’s G20 presidency still has to come out with a specific long-term agenda for the Global South
While speaking at the G20 University Connect programme, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted that during India’s G20 presidency “we must become the voice of the Global South that is otherwise under-represented in such forums”. Now India has a big opportunity to make a lasting impact on the G20 narrative, particularly from the perspectives of the developing countries.
The establishment of the G20 itself was a reflection of the realisation that economic power has started shifting towards Asia, and emerging markets. Since then it has become clear that only Western countries can no longer provide solutions to many of the global economic problems.
In fact, many recent economic and financial troubles in the world economy have their origin within the G7. The current geopolitical tensions and related economic difficulties are also due to Russian action in Ukraine and subsequent economic sanctions by the West.
From the very beginning, New Delhi has been voicing concerns for the larger developing world. At the peak of the 2008 economic crisis when leaders met for the first G20 summit in Washington, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh articulated that emerging markets and developing countries “were not the cause of this crisis, but they are amongst the worst affected victims”.
The Seoul summit (2010) was the first meeting held in an Asian country. South Korea with its own development experience pushed the G20 beyond monetary and macroeconomic issues, and brought development to the main agenda. Since then, the ‘development track’ has become an important part of the discussions. This later now coincided with the Agenda 2030, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In the last few years, food security, boosting infrastructure, enhancing burden sharing, as well as energy and environmental sustainability have become important action points within the G20. At the Hamburg summit in 2017, Prime Minister Narender Modi argued that “G20 nations must walk the talk to facilitate technical and financial infusion in Africa”.
While taking over G20 presidency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that our “priorities will be shaped in consultation with not just our G20 partners, but also our fellow-travellers in the Global South”. In addition, he argued that “we shall present India’s experiences, learnings and models as possible templates for others, particularly the developing world”.
Apart from broad references concerning immediate energy, food, and debt issues, India’s G20 presidency still has to come out with a specific long-term agenda for the Global South. As South Korea earlier changed the G20 narrative through ‘development track’, we still have not heard any big ideas concerning Global South from India’s policy makers.
It seems most of the Indian G20 documents either talk of broad generalisations like “one earth, one family, one future”, or concentrate on the strengths of the Indian economy and Indian initiatives. This may be important for immediate discussions or for the Indian audience, but these narratives will not last beyond Indian presidency.
For the post-pandemic, post-Ukraine war world, India must take a lead in articulating Global South’s priorities through one big narrative. This narrative must include some of the elements of the SDGs, green transition, global inequality, and reforms in global economic governance. It could also present a framework of co-operation between OECD-led global development architecture and South-South co-operation. These points could be clubbed together under one heading, and presented as a big Indian G20 idea.
Some of the ideas mentioned earlier under the South Korean development track’s multi-year action plan are still valid. These include food security, infrastructure, financial inclusion, human resource development, responsible private sector, domestic resource mobilisation, and knowledge sharing. However, since then we have seen adoption of the 2030 agenda; competing infrastructure strategies following the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative; and disruptions created by the pandemic and various conflicts. We have also seen huge development in green technologies and adoption of more ambitious climate action plans.
In the current challenging environment, India is well placed to present an entirely new development track within G20, which can take care of requirements of the developing countries in the next decade. If agreed by others, this will be a real contribution by New Delhi which has the ambition to lead an “inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented, and decisive” G20 presidency.
#G20 #India #G20Presidency Originally published: Money Control, December 22, 2022. https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/opinion/g20-presidency-a-big-narrative-articulating-global-souths-priorities-is-crucial-9649671.html
Posted in SIS Blog with the authorization of the author.
Gulshan Sachdeva is Professor at the Centre for European Studies and Coordinator, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, Jawaharlal Nehru University.