G20 Summit 2023

The G20 Summit 2023 just concluded in New Delhi under the Indian Presidency. The PM of India passed the gavel to Brazil, the next G20 President. The 18^th meeting of the Group of Twenty was the first G20 summit to be held in India. Read here to learn about the outcomes of the summit.

The G20 (Group of 20) is an international forum that includes 19 of the world’s largest economies and the European Union.

G20 is a forum for economic, financial, and political cooperation. It addresses the major global challenges and seeks to generate public policies that resolve them.

The Leaders’ Summit is the climax of the G20 process and the work carried out over the year through Ministerial Meetings, Working Groups, and Engagement Groups.

G20 India Presidency

The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the EU.

• The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

India holds the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023.

Indonesia held the presidency in 2022, which concluded in the Bali declaration.

Under the Indian Presidency, the G20 in 2023 focussed on the theme, ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’.

• The theme affirms the value of human, animal, plant, and microorganisms and their interconnectedness on planet Earth and in the wider universe.
• The Indian Presidency will also spotlight Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), with an emphasis on environmentally sustainable and responsible choices at both the individual lifestyle and the national development level, to achieve a cleaner, greener, and bluer future.

The summit had India showcase its cultural richness through diverse elements like:

• Bharat Mandapam, inspired by Lord Basavaeshwara’s concept of Anubhav mandapam. The “culture corridor,” features a display of diverse traditions from 29 countries, including India and the special invitees to the G20.
• The Chola-style bronze statue of Lord Nataraja.
• Konark Chakra of Odisha’s sun temple and the image of Nalanda University were used as backdrops.
• Showcase of Thanjavur Paintings and Dhokra art
• A brass statue of Lord Buddha under the Bodhi tree.
• Hindustani, Folk, and Carnatic musical heritage of India

Indian Prime Minister formally handed over the G20 presidency to the President of Brazil. India will continue to hold the position until 30 November 2023.

G20 Summit 2023

The invited countries for the year were:

• Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and UAE.

Six agendas were put forth for the G20 Dialogue 2023:

1. Green Development, Climate Finance & LiFE
2. Accelerated, Inclusive & Resilient Growth
3. Accelerating progress on SDGs
4. Technological Transformation & Digital Public Infrastructure
5. Multilateral Institutions for the 21st Century
6. Women-led development

The working groups focused on areas like:

• agriculture, anti-corruption, culture, digital economy, disaster risk reduction, development, education, employment, environment and climate sustainability, energy transitions, health, trade and investment, and tourism.

Major outcomes of the G20 summit 2023

• The African Union joined the G20 as a permanent member.
• A new organization called the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) was launched, to promote the development and adoption of sustainable biofuels, and set relevant standards and certification.
• The New Delhi Leaders Declaration was adopted with consensus.
• A group of countries made a joint agreement to build a rail and shipping corridor linking India with the Middle East and Europe called the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. The group comprises India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Israel and the European Union.

New Delhi declaration

The G20 2023 joint consensus declaration called the New Delhi Leaders Declaration is an official non-binding declaration that seeks to place emphasis on strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth.

Global Economic Situation

• To protect the vulnerable, through promoting equitable growth and enhancing macroeconomic and financial stability. Such an approach will help resolve the cost-of-living crisis and unlock strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth.
• To support the progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth (SSBIG).
• To create inclusive, sustainable, and resilient global value chains, and support developing countries to move up the value chain.

Unlocking Trade for Growth

• To ensure a rules-based, non-discriminatory, fair, open, inclusive, equitable, sustainable, and transparent multilateral trading system, with WTO at its core.
• Recognize challenges MSMEs, particularly in developing countries, face concerning access to information and thus, welcome Jaipur Call for Action for enhancing MSMEs’ access to information to promote the integration of MSMEs into international trade.

Also read: G20 Generic Framework for Mapping Global Value Chains (GVC)

Fighting Corruption

• Strengthening Law Enforcement International Cooperation and Information Sharing for Combating Corruption, Strengthening Asset Recovery Mechanisms for Combating Corruption.
• To enhance global efforts to seize, confiscate, and return criminal proceeds to victims and states, in line with international obligations and domestic legal frameworks, including through support to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and operationalization of the GlobE Network.

Recommitting to Achieving SDGs

• To accelerate progress on SDGs, we commit to taking collective action for effective and timely implementation of the G20 2023 Action Plan to Accelerate Progress on the SDGs.

Strengthening Global Health and Implementing One Health Approach

• To strengthen the global health architecture, with the World Health Organization (WHO) at its core, and build more resilient, equitable, sustainable, and inclusive health systems to achieve Universal Health Coverage, implement the One Health approach, enhance pandemic preparedness, and strengthen existing infectious diseases surveillance systems.

Designing a Circular Economy World

• Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Industry Coalition (RECEIC) to enhance environmentally sound waste management, substantially reduce waste generation by 2030, and highlight the importance of zero waste initiatives.

Other major outcomes:

• Overcoming major differences in the Russia-Ukraine war
• Call for full implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative
• Action Plan against Fugitive Economic Offenders
• Countering terrorism and money laundering
• Globally fair, sustainable, and modern international tax system
• Digital Public Infrastructure (crypto, Al, etc.)
• Gender equality and women empowerment
• G20 Deccan High-Level Principles on Food Security and Nutrition 2023

Conclusion

G20 Summit 2023 reiterates that cooperation is essential in determining the course the world takes. Headwinds to global economic growth and stability persist.

Years of cascading challenges and crises have reversed gains in the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to increase, with climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, drought, land degradation, and desertification threatening lives and livelihoods.

Rising commodity prices, including food and energy prices, are contributing to cost of living pressures. Global challenges like poverty and inequality, climate change, pandemics, and conflicts disproportionately affect women and children, and the most vulnerable.

The G20 Summit 2023 commit to:

• Accelerate strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth.
• Accelerate the full and effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• Pursue low-GHG/low-carbon emissions, climate-resilient, and environmentally sustainable development pathways by championing an integrated and inclusive approach.
• Improve access to medical countermeasures and facilitate more supplies and production capacities in developing countries to prepare better for future health emergencies.
• Promote resilient growth by urgently and effectively addressing debt vulnerabilities in developing countries.
• Scale up financing from all sources for accelerating progress on SDGs

-Article by Swathi Satish