G-7 SUMMIT 2023 HIROSHIMA (JAPAN)
G-20 SUMMIT 2023 NEW DELHI (INDIA)
The Group of Seven (G – 7) and the Group of Twenty (G – 20) are informal governance clubs which holds annual Summits of Head of the states /Head of Governments to discuss issues of Global Importance.
G-7 is an informal grouping of seven of the world’s advanced economies –Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain & USA. In addition, European Union (EU) is a non- enumerated i.e., non-mentioned member. India is not its member. G-7 was formed on 25th March 1973, and its first summit was held on 15th Nov 1975.
G-20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comparing 19 Countries & European Union (EU). G-20 was founded in 1999 to bring together systemically important industrialized developed and developing economies to discuss key issues in global economies. India is one of its member.
49th G-7 Summit
49th G-7 Summit was held from 19-21st May, 2023 in Hiroshima city of Japan. The meeting was attended by G-7 core members that are – Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, United States as well as European Union as non-enumerated (non-mentioned) member.
G-7 was attended by International Organization such as International Energy Agency (IEA), International Monetary Fund (IMF), UN, World Bank, WHO, WTO etc. India participated as one of the invitee and Ukraine as guest country. The meeting was hosted by Mr. Fumio Kishida – Prime Minister of Japan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi represented India in G-7.
G-7 summit is held annually and has a rotating presidency. For 2023, presidency is with Japan. 2024 Summit will be held at Apulia (Italy) under the presidency of Italy.
Leaders of G-7 countries discussed a number of challenges to peace and prosperity facing the global order while consulting with invited guests. As the situation of Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken the very foundation of international order, the world is facing the multiple crisis, including climate crisis, pandemic and geo-political crisis. To counter these crisis, G-7 affirmed to uphold the free and open international order based on “the rule of law” and strengthened the G-7’s outreach to emerging and developing countries.
There are many comments on this summit that Volodymyr Zelenskyy got a lot of attention and domination, as well as there is an evaluation of fruitful achievements.
Throughout the sessions, the leaders emphasized cooperation, “the rule of law”, and the transition to a clean energy economy. They called for guidelines on artificial intelligence and expressed concern over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. The leaders discussed strengthening engagement with emerging countries, supporting the G20, and addressing issues like poverty and energy transition. Economic resilience and security were discussed, along with the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence. The leaders highlighted the importance of coordinated responses to crises related to development, food security, health and gender equality. Climate change, energy, and environmental issues were addressed, with an emphasis on pursuing net – zero emissions and enhancing clean energy supply chain resilience. Throughout the summit, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the free and open international order, called for nuclear disarmament, and discussed the need to reform the United Nations.
THE G-20 (GROUP OF 20)
The G20 is a strategic multilateral platform connecting the world’s major developed and developing economies. The G20 holds a strategic role in securing future global economic growth and prosperity. Together, the G20 members represent more than 80 percent of world GDP, 75 percent of international trade and 60 percent of the world population.
Starting in1999 as a meeting for the finance minister and central bank governors, the G20 has evolved into a yearly summit involving the Head of State and Government. The working groups, and special events are also organized throughout the year.
PARTICIPANTS
The members of the G20 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. Spain is also invited as a permanent guest.
Each year, the presidency invites guest countries, which take full part in the G20 exercise. Several international and regional organizations also participate, granting the forum an even broader representation.
The presidency of the G20 rotates every year among its members, with the country that holds the presidency working together with its predecessor and successor, also known as Troika, to ensure the continuity of the agenda. Currently India, Brazil and South Africa are the Troika countries.
The G20 has no permanent secretariat. Agenda and the work coordination is completed by G20 leaders’ personal representatives, known as Sherpas together with finance ministers and central bank governors. (Mr. Amitabh Kant was appointed as Indian Sherpa)
The pinnacle of the G20 work in each cycle is a communiqué expressing members’ commitments and vision for the future, drafted from the chosen recommendations and deliverables from ministerial meetings and other work streams.
ORIGINS OF THE G-20
The G-20 was formed in 1999 with the aim of discussing policies in order to achieve international financial stability. This forum was formed as an effort to find a solution to the global economic conditions hit by the global financial crisis in 1997-1999 by involving middle-income countries and having systemic economic influence, including Indonesia.
On the advice of the G-7 Finance Ministers, the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors began holding meetings to discuss the response to the global financial crisis that occurred. After that, the Minister of Finance level meeting is held regularly in the fall.
Nine years later, on November 14-15 2008, the leaders of the G20 countries gathered for the first G20 summit. On that occasion, the country’s leaders coordinated the global response to the impact of the financial crisis that occurred in the US at that time and agreed to hold follow-up meeting.
To prepare for the annual summit, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, together with sherpas meet several times a year.
The 17th G20 Heads of State and Government summit took place in November 2022 in Bali Indonesia.
The 18th G-20 Summit was held at Delhi on 9 & 10 Sep 2023. Sh. Narendra Modi was the Host leader.
19th G-20 summit will be held in 2024 in Brazil and 20th in 2025 in South Africa.
The Standing of India in international arena today is unparalleled and such as was previously unknown to the world. This has been possible because of untiring efforts and dynamic leadership of our Hon’ble Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi. Modi’s mission has been instrumental in reclaiming the glory which India truly deserves. Now no decision in international politics can be taken without considering the view point of India. We have climbed from 10th position in 2014 to 5th in Global Economy in 2023. India look forward to overtake Germany and become 4th largest economy of the world by 2024 and 3rd by 2030 leaving behind Japan.
We will be a 5 trillion USD economy by 2028 and striving to be a developed country by 2047.
The 18th G-20 Summit to be held at New Delhi was a very big event attended by all major global leaders. This G-20 meet affirmed India’s role as “Vishwaguru”.
G-20 is on its way to assume such importance as international organizations such as UN, EU etc. The entire world is watching with bated breath as to how far India can be instrumental in this regard. Surely, India has a challenging role to play in global politics in future.
18th G-20 Summit
Location- Pragati Maidan, Delhi
Date: – 9th & 10th Sept. 2023
Host Leader/ Chairperson – Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
Host Country – India
Motto – Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One Earth, One Family, One Future)
Participants – G-20 Members, Invitee countries by Indian Govt. & International Organizations
Venue- Bharat Mandapam Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
Russian President Mr. Putin & Chinese president Mr. Xi Jinping did not attended G-20 summit. Their places were taken up by Russian foreign minister Mr. Sergey Lavrov & Chinese prime minister Mr. Li Qiang respectively. It was the first G-20 summit held in India. India’s presidency began on 1st December 2022. Indian Prime Minister Modi formally handed over the G-20 presidency to Mr. Luiz Inacio Lula Da-silva, the president of Brazil. India will continue to hold the position until 30th November 2023.
India put 6 Agenda priorities for the G-20
- Green Development, Climate, Finance & Life
- Accelerated, Inclusive & Resilient growth
- Accelerating progress on Sustainable Development Goals
- Technological Transformation and Digital Public Infrastructure
- Multilateral Institutions for the 21st Century
- Women-led Development
Bangladesh, Comoros, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain & UAE participated as guest country. International Organizations- Asian Development Bank, Collation for disaster resilient Infrastructure- financially stability board IMF, International Labour Organization. International solar alliance – United Nation, World Bank, WHO, WTO. Organization for economic corporation & development also participated as guests. It is very significant that the New Delhi leader’s declaration was adopted with consensus. This difficult task became possible due to excellent efforts of National Security Advisor- Ajit Kumar Doval, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar & Indian G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant
The group of countries made a joint agreement to build a rail and shipping a corridor linking India with a middle-east & Europe economic corridor. The group compromises India, Saudi-Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Israel & European Union.
African Union join the G-20 as a permanent member.
A new organization- Global Bio-fuel alliance launched to promote the development & adoption of sustainable bio-fuel and set relevant standards and certificate.
Note: –
- International Criminal Court in March 2023 declared Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal and later on issued a warrant for his arrest accusing him of war crimes in Ukraine. This means he risks arrest when travelling abroad. He was charged that during Russia – Ukraine war, hundreds of children residing in orphanages in Ukraine were taken to Russia to give them to Russian families by adoption.
- Putin didn’t attend the 15th BRICS Summit held on 22-24th Aug, 2023 hosted by South Africa at Johannesburg. South Africa is also a member of ICC and is bound by its rules and regulations. Putin to avoid arrest due to ICC warrant didn’t attended the same.
- To avoid his arrest, he participated in the Summit virtually and Russian delegation was represented by its foreign minister Sergey Levrov.
- Putin also not attended G20 Summit held in India (New Delhi) on 9th and 10th September, 2023.
- Russian foreign Ministry spokesperson stated that he is busy in special military operations in Ukraine and a visit to Delhi is not in his agenda.
- India is not a member of ICC and fear of arrest due to ICC warrant were almost zero.
Mr. Putin has been avoiding his presence in international events. Last year he also abstained himself from G20 summit held at Bali, Indonesia.
Xi Jinping is annoyed with India because of India’s effort to undermine China’s leadership role at recently concluded BRICS summit, escalating Border tension along line of actual control, (LOC) between India & China & India being actively drawn into US-led Western Anti-China alliance specifically in the rapidly transforming security architecture in the indo specific. India has been constantly opposing the expenstionist policy of China. Internal Political pressures too also forced Xi Jinping to sit out of the G-20 summit in New-Delhi & avoid a meeting with Joe Biden. Many G-20 countries now have confrontation with China & Beijing is beginning to view G-20 as more of a platform with shrinking value and with a limited international influence.
