Cobbled Consensus and Emerging Challenges

The New Delhi summit of the Group of Twenty (G20) leaders, which started off without any great expectations with the Chinese and Russian heads of states staying away, pulled off a major surprise on its very first day. It unanimously adopted the New Delhi leader’s declaration, accommodating the groups’ diverse interests with minimum discord. This was a major feat because many of the G20 ministerial group meetings, in the run-up to the summit, had failed to build a consensus for joint communiques. Moreover, the refusal of the Russian and Chinese delegations to back down from their demand to change the tenor of the G20 Bali summit declaration on the Ukraine war further added to the uncertainties. Hence, the quick adoption of the leader’s declaration was a major feat, which reaffirmed the G20 status as the premier forum for international economic cooperation.

A landmark event at the meet was the entry of the African Union, comprising 55 nations, as a permanent member of the G20, as proposed by the United States (US)–Africa leaders’ summit last year. This would certainly ensure greater representation to the vast continent and add to its heft. On the economic front, a major gain was the new partnership announced for setting up an India–Middle East–Europe economic corridor. It will certainly provide competition to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.