India's G-20 Presidency: A Crucial Mediator Between the West and Russia and a Voice for the Global South
India's G-20 chairmanship has placed it as a critical middleman between the West and Russia, giving the global south a voice.
During India's G-20 leadership, a significant mediator between the West and Russia
When the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors failed to produce a joint communiqué, the recent G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM) held in Delhi experienced some disappointment.
Even though the meeting's
main topics were supposed to be declining economic growth, rising inflation,
declining demand for goods and services, and rising prices for food, fuel, and
fertilizers, the Western powers and Russia-China together had significant
disagreements regarding the Ukrainian conflict. Despite the lack of a consensus
resolution, it should be noted that the foreign ministers of the US, UK,
Russia, China, and France met face-to-face to discuss their respective stances
on important contemporary issues like terrorism, food and energy crises, global
warming, and the conflict in Ukraine.
Even if the larger East-West division over Ukraine could
not be overcome, India, as the host, had appealed to all members of the broken
Group of 20 to achieve a compromise on matters of special interest to poorer
nations. S Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs for India, was honest
in his assessment of the situation and stated that there were disagreements on
the question of a war in Ukraine that could not be resolved since different
parties had different points of view.
The video message by Prime Minister Modi to the public
kicked off the second day of negotiations. He pleaded with them to avoid
letting the current conflicts jeopardize any potential deals on climate change,
indebtedness, and the security of food and energy. According to the Indian
Minister for Foreign Affairs, the G-20 delegates reached a consensus on a wide
range of subjects, including gender equality, climate action, biodiversity, new
emerging technologies, etc. He stated that there was a definite division during
the G-20 summit between the haves and have-nots, who held opposing views.
Russia was pressured by Secretary of State Blinken to
extend a treaty allowing the sale of grain from Ukraine. The G20 must advocate
for "extending and expanding the grain program to boost food security
for the most vulnerable," he continued.
The major lesson from the FMM is that the Group of Leading
Economies convening in New Delhi anticipated that the host nation, India, would
position itself as a crucial middleman between the West and Russia. The G20 has
to concentrate on post-pandemic reconstruction, according to the Indian
Minister for Foreign Affairs. This is a challenging assignment for the G20, and
many leaders anticipate India will contribute positively to lessening the
severity of the world's issues. India has been strategically playing its cards
in recent years, raising its profile on global fora.
