G20 Summit 2023: What to Expect from India’s Presidency

The G20 Summit 2023 is the upcoming eighteenth meeting of the Group of Twenty, a forum of the world’s major economies that aims to promote global economic and financial stability, cooperation, and development. The summit is scheduled to take place on September 9-10, 2023, in New Delhi, India, at the Bharat Mandapam International Exhibition-Convention Centre. This will be the first time that India will host the G20 summit, as well as the first time that the summit will be held in South Asia.

India’s Theme and Priorities

India assumed the presidency of the G20 on December 1, 2022, succeeding Indonesia, which hosted the summit in Bali in 2022. India’s theme for its presidency is “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, which reflects its vision of a human-centric and inclusive approach to global challenges.

According to the official website of the G20 India, India has put forth six agenda priorities for the G20 dialogue in 2023:

• Green Development, Climate Finance & LiFE: India aims to promote sustainable development and climate action, with a focus on enhancing climate finance, supporting low-income countries and small island developing states, and launching a new initiative called LiFE (Leadership for Environmentally sound Finance and ESG investments).
• Accelerated, Inclusive & Resilient Growth: India seeks to foster a strong and balanced recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on enhancing social protection, reducing inequalities, strengthening health systems, and boosting digital inclusion and innovation.
• Accelerating progress on SDGs: India intends to advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a special attention to poverty eradication, gender equality, quality education, and clean energy.
• Technological Transformation & Digital Public Infrastructure: India proposes to harness the potential of digital technologies and data for public good, with a focus on building digital public infrastructure, ensuring data governance and security, and fostering digital cooperation and literacy.
• Multilateral Institutions for the 21st century: India endeavors to reform and revitalize the multilateral system, with a focus on enhancing the effectiveness, legitimacy and accountability of global institutions, such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Health Organization.
• Women-led development: India aspires to empower women and girls as agents of change and drivers of development, with a focus on promoting women’s leadership, entrepreneurship, education, health, and rights.

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Key Issues and Challenges

The G20 Summit 2023 will take place amid a complex and uncertain global scenario, marked by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its socio-economic impacts, the escalating climate crisis and its environmental consequences, the rising geopolitical tensions and conflicts among major powers, and the growing demands for social justice and human rights from civil society and marginalized groups.

Some of the key issues and challenges that are likely to dominate the agenda and discussions of the G20 leaders are:

• The Covid-19 pandemic response and recovery: The G20 leaders will have to address the urgent need to ensure equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for all countries, especially low- and middle-income ones. They will also have to coordinate their fiscal and monetary policies to support a resilient and inclusive recovery from the pandemic-induced recession. Moreover, they will have to prepare for future pandemics by strengthening global health governance and cooperation.
• The climate change mitigation and adaptation: The G20 leaders will have to demonstrate their commitment and ambition to tackle the climate emergency, in line with the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. They will also have to mobilize adequate and predictable climate finance for developing countries, especially for adaptation and loss and damage. Furthermore, they will have to enhance their collaboration on green technologies and innovation.
• The global trade reform and cooperation: The G20 leaders will have to revitalize the multilateral trading system by resolving the impasse at the WTO over its dispute settlement mechanism, its reform agenda, and its ongoing negotiations on various issues. They will also have to foster trade liberalization and facilitation by reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, addressing trade-distorting subsidies and practices, and promoting e-commerce and digital trade.
• The global security and stability: The G20 leaders will have to manage their differences and disputes over various regional and global flashpoints, such as Ukraine, Taiwan, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Yemen, and Myanmar. They will also have to enhance their cooperation on counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, non-proliferation, and humanitarian assistance.

Conclusion

The G20 Summit 2023 will be a crucial opportunity for India to showcase its leadership role in shaping the global agenda and addressing the common challenges of the 21st century. India will have to balance its national interests and aspirations with its global responsibilities and obligations, as well as its bilateral relations and partnerships with other G20 members and invitees. India will also have to leverage its strengths and advantages, such as its democratic values, its demographic dividend, its cultural diversity, and its technological prowess, to contribute to the G20’s vision of a more prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive world.