Indonesia’s Ambassador to India Ina Krisnamurthi said on Wednesday that the problems facing the low and middle-income countries should remain at the core of the G-20 agenda, as she lauded India for “continuity” in the G20 during its ongoing presidency.
“We can’t lose sight of the larger global challenges due to geopolitical differences,” she told the conference in New Delhi titled ‘India’s G20 Moment: Forging an Inclusive World Order’,organized by New Delhi-based India Writes Network and the Centre for Global India Insights (CGII).
While G20 could provide an “avenue” for different parties involved in the Ukraine crisis to sit and talk, it wasn’t up to the G20 to solve all the “global challenges”, Krisnamurthi noted.
The Indonesian diplomat further said that New Delhi’s G20 agenda reflected “continuity” from the Indonesian presidency of the grouping.
Any of the priorities of the Indonesian G20 Presidency, be it climate change, energy transition, sustainable global GDP growth, debt challenges as well as achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are part of New Delhi’s agenda as well.
Two crucial meetings of G20 Finance Ministers and Foreign Ministers concluded without a joint communique due to difference in positions among west and Russia on the Ukraine crisis.
Change in Global Governance Structure Long Overdue: Brazilian Diplomat
Addressing the conference, the Charge d’affaires (CdA) of the Brazilian Embassy in New Delhi, said that reforming the global governance structure, including at the United Nations (UN) Security Council, would be one of the priorities for the country during its G20 presidency.
“The current geostrategic reality is not reflected in the UN... The global reforms are long overdue,” Eduardo Uziel stated, adding that Brazil would look to “mainstream” the issue at G20 during its presidency next year.
The Brazilian diplomat also underscored that his government would strive to continue pursuing many issues which are being taken up by India during its ongoing presidency.
“Our priorities are not set yet. But many of the issues being taken by up India will reflect on our agenda,” Uziel said.
Global South Facing Brunt of Global Challenges, Says India
India’s G20 coordinator Harsh Vardhan Shringla told the conference that falling economic growth, growing indebtedness, inflation and effects of climate change were most visible in low and middle-income nations.
He said that New Delhi was striving to promote cooperation in the G20 grouping among rich and developing nations to tackle these challenges.
The former Indian foreign secretary noted that India has invited a “record” number of countries from Africa to be part of G20 consultations and side-events. He said that many of these countries aren’t formally part of the grouping.
He further highlighted that on the domestic front, the Indian government was encouraging the participation of people from all parts of the country in the G20.
“We want to make it a jan-bhagidari (participation of people) event,” Shringla said, noting that around 100 G20 meetings and side events have taken place in different parts of the country till now.
'Historic Opportunity for India'
Manish Chand, CEO-Editor-in-Chief of the India Writes Network, said that India’s G20 presidency was ‘special in many ways” because it comes in times of a challenging geopolitical environment.
“The world is looking at India with a new glimmer of hope. Given India’s unique position as a bridge-builder between the global north and global South, there are greater expectations than ever from this country of over 1.4 billion people,” Chand said.
He added that India has been presented with a unique opportunity to “projects the interests of the Global South”, noting that Brazil and South Africa are scheduled to hold the presidency in the next two years.