New Delhi: With the aim to reflect on India's accomplishment during its G20 Presidency , a successful Joint Declaration & India's leadership of Global South, a panel discussion was held at IWPC. The panelists included former Ambassador Vivek Katju, Ambassador KC Singh and Ambassador Rajiv Dogra.
Hailing the summit as a huge success Ambassador Katju said, ‘Given the strong feeling of divide on Ukraine it was not easy to bridge the gap & that the fear that it would be difficult for India to reach a consensus was proved wrong. He said the inclusion of African Union in G20 was a constructive role played by India. ‘The Declaration will be a text book example for future diplomacy,’ he said. Katju said, it will be G20s agenda now to focus to bring stability in the world. He however emphasized that despite the issues of women participation in decision making and statement on terrorism included in the G20 Declaration, there was a need for national cooperation on elimination of corruption.
Ambassador KC Singh spoke about India being a pioneer in DPI was impressive & is what India can give to the world.
Talking on the G20 Declaration he said, the Americans stepped back in order to get India on board, to ensure India in its corner against the Chinese.
Talking of reforms of multilateral institutions, he pointed out that China was the biggest debtor of 1.5 trillion dollars and that India Middle East Europe Corridor was to counter BRI. But he was doubtful on the execution part of the corridor. He said now the new battle is for African resources. ‘India’s relations with Africa are very old though but the Chinese too will not be easy to be displaced,’ he said.
Singh however emphasized on the issues that were needed to be raised in G20 like the SDG’s and FATF. He said, All G20 can do is tighten screws for financial transaction.
Ambassador Dogra, conceding the G20 success said, ‘it wasn’t the first time we have had a successful event like this. ‘History is repeating itself’, he said, as India hosted the UNCTAD and NAM (1983) with equal success. ‘India’s Diplomacy has had a history of overcoming obstacles.’
On China Dogra said that the absence of China did not at all matter at G20. On a word of caution Dogra said, ‘Don’t expect G20 to change the world.’
Issues regarding India Middle East Europe Corridor, Climate funding, Africa Union, consensus Diplomacy, Advantage India were delved on.
