India’s G20 Presidency: Presidency of Healing, Harmony, and Hope

Introduction
G-20 is a collection of twenty of the world's major economies, established in 1999. It was intended to serve as a forum for global economic and financial stability discussion by bringing together the most significant industrialised and emerging economies. It was conceived for the Asian financial crisis and is representative of 85% of the global GDP, over 75% of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population. The forum seeks to balance fairness, global representation, and opportunities. The aim of the G-20 inauguration was to unite finance ministers and central bankers from twenty of the world’s largest established and emerging economies to discuss international, economic, and financial stability, especially among middle-income countries. The annual meeting of G-20 leaders which debuted in 2008, has grown into a significant forum for talking about economics and other urgent global concerns.

The G-20 forum comprises the following countries- Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the US. Spain is the only country that has continued to attend the G20 summits as a permanent guest. The presidency of the G20 forum rotates on an annual basis among its members. The presidency of India for the annual apex-level summit, starting December 2022, coincides with the Troika and comprises only developing nations out of 20 nations, which are Indonesia, India, and Brazil. It is the responsibility of the Troika (the rotating three-member partnership of the previous, current, and incoming presidency) to ensure the continuity of the G20 agenda. As the member states agree on agenda items, and the implementation of such choice rests on the political will of each state.

G20 Agenda: Its Significance, Value, and Impact on India and Across the Globe
The agenda of G20 has been evolving for years. Initially, it focussed broadly on macroeconomic policies. However, it has expanded its horizons and added more areas of concern as well. At the Argentina summit 2018, the focus of the forum was on fair and sustainable development, while the previous summit in Germany (2017) focussed on issues including corruption, money laundering, and international tax havens. The inception of agendas from various other perspectives has less to do with macroeconomics. One more example which was less inclined toward the microeconomics agenda was declared at the 2016 summit in Hangzhou, China where the ex-president of the US Mr. Barack Obama, and Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping formally announced the accession of their countries to the Paris agreement on climate.

The common agendas for each summit have been economic and financial coordination. However, various issues such as the future of work, terrorism, and global health are getting recurring attention as well. The covid-19 pandemic was one of the critical phases for the G20 as well while the G20 countries did not agree to suspend debt payments owed to them by some of the world’s poorest countries, providing billions of dollars in relief. The recent summits have focussed more on climate change, and the summits yielded more concrete commitments on the issues prevailing across the nation. The recent summit at Rome in 2021 resulted in the agreement of countries towards curbing the emissions of methane and ending the public financing for most new coal power plants overseas while the focus on limiting the uses of coal domestically is still to be discussed. Indonesia committed to shutting down its coal-fired power facilities at the summit in 2022 in exchange for US$20 billion in finance from high-income nations, including the United States. To avoid volatility in the exchange rates the leaders of the G20 also agreed to pace interest rate hikes. Indonesia being the host of 2022 framed the agenda of the forum around three pillars of post-pandemic macroeconomic policy: global health architecture, digital transformation, and the sustainable energy transition.

India reached a significant milestone and assumed the presidency of the G20 on 1st December 2022. The Troika comprises India, Indonesia, and Brazil which is for the first time that the Troika is consisting of three developing and emerging economies. The honourable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi reiterated that India’s presidency of G20 will be inclusive, action-oriented, and decisive. The theme for the session was unveiled by the PM; ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’. The theme embarks on India’s philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. The theme is a catchphrase for people across the world to work together to create a future after the epidemic that is healthier.

There will be four Health Working Group (HWG) meetings and one Health Ministerial Meeting as part of the G20 India Presidency's Health Track. The meetings have been scheduled at different locations including Thiruvananthapuram (Kerela), Goa, Hyderabad (Telangana), and Gandhinagar (Gujarat) across the nation to showcase India’s rich and diverse culture. The government also plans to host side events along with HWG meetings to provide enrichment, supplement, and support to the discussions of G20. The side events will be on topics such as Medical Value Travel and Digital Health; a workshop on collaborative research on drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines; and a co-branded event on Global Centre for Traditional Medicine. With the G20 presidency, India aims to continue and consolidate health priorities and key takeaways from the past presidencies while focusing on the critical area which requires more strengthening.

Three priorities identified by India for the G20 health track are as follows:

• Health Emergencies Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (with a focus on One Health & AMR)
• Strengthening Cooperation in Pharmaceutical Sector with a focus on Access and Availability to safe, effective, quality, and Affordable Medical Countermeasures (Vaccines, Therapeutics and Diagnostics)
• Digital Health Innovations and Solutions to Aid Universal Health Coverage and Improve Healthcare Service Delivery

During the terms of India’s presidency, it anticipates holding more than 200 meetings across 50 cities which will involve ministers, officials, and civil society. It will lead to a marquee summit in the Indian capital of New Delhi in September 2023. As per the government reports, the current priorities in the G20 presidency of India include concerns related to restoring global macro stability and improving financial inclusion to reforming the multilateral. The government is also concerned about women’s empowerment, the scaling of digital public infrastructure and tech-enabled development, climate financing, global food security, and energy security.

Even the most pragmatist of leaders find it difficult to remain calm when faced with geostrategic balancing issues in a world plagued by conflict, an imminent recession, the scourge of crippling global debt, and the climate crisis. While for the same cause, a host of bilateral talks are scheduled against this backdrop of global tensions. However, the presidency of G20 has come up as an opportunity for India to leave a prominent mark on the geopolitical front by rising as a diplomatic powerhouse.

India’s Perspective of G20 summits
As said by the PM of India; hope, harmony, peace, and stability are significant ideas that will outline the presidency of India in the G20 grouping of the world’s most advanced and emerging economies. The presidency comes up with an opportunity for India to form world opinion when there is widespread polarisation and escalation of geopolitics rigidities.

The establishment of G20 is resultant of the dissatisfaction of the international community over the failure of the G7 countries to find solutions to the global economy’s problems. At that point, it appeared to the other nations and the forum that it is important to include middle-income countries and those with systemic economic influence in order to find solutions to global economic problems. This group has a greater significance as it accounts for about 65% of the world’s population, 79% of global trade, and about 85% of the world economy. The purpose of the G20 association is to discuss and find relevant solutions to resolve challenges that impact global economic growth, such as finance, trade, infrastructure, investment, energy, employment, corruption eradication, development, agriculture, technology, innovation, and the digital economy. The logo of the G20 encompasses a budding lotus and its seven petals, clasping the globe’s affirmation of the fundamental values of all life, such as human, animal, plant, and microorganisms, and their interrelation on the planet earth. The idea of hope in troubling times is illustrated by the lotus emblem in the logo of G20. Seven petals on the lotus represent the growing seven continents of the globe and the seven music notes. The G20 will carry the world together in the harmony. The flowering lotus itself depicts India’s mythological heritage, faith, and intelligence in the logo.

The presidency of G20 plays quite an important role for India as the position provides a medium of change and world transformation in this era of multi-dimensional crises like food and energy security. Since the world is caught up in various conflicts, jeopardising the lives of ordinary people, India will outshine its G20 presidency to reach constructive solutions to various challenges, such as reviving global growth, more decisive climate actions, and robust global health architecture. The focus will also move towards endorsing food and nutrition security as the pandemic has already strapped millions of people into poverty. For the next few months, the forum will also focus on accelerating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will lead to adopting an eco-friendly sustainable lifestyle through LiFE (Life for Environment).

Conclusion
The G20 presidency for India has come up with great roles and responsibilities around contributing towards the overall development across the nation. India will get a chance to showcase the largest democracy in the world, its glory, diversity, and inclusion. It will also get an opportunity to support other member nations to grow and touch new heights of excellence in areas ranging from economic progress to science and technology, space, innovation, and start-ups. The nation also seeks to host 200+ G20-related meetings in 56 different places in India which will bring delegates from different countries across the world to visit and witness the vibrant and diverse India.

India also specified at the conference of G20 that without peace and stability, our future generations will not be able to take advantage of economic progress and technical innovation