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Keeping up with the summits: the G20 summit

Writer's picture: nicholas nanicholas na
Sep 15, 20236 min read


On Sunday, 10th September, the world’s largest economies gathered for the G20 summit in New Delhi. As the summit drew to a close, the United States (US), Russia and France praised the outcomes of the meeting These outcomes concerned the US-China ties, the attitude towards against the Russian-Ukrainian War, the reforms of multilateral institutions like the IMF and the inclusion of the African Union(AU). However, there were still limitations to the summit, such as its lack of representation of countries, like Ukraine and the selfishness of the host country to put its own goals over the betterment of the world This essay seeks to cover both positive and negative developments from the summit.


Firstly, in terms of US-China relations, slightly positive developments were actually made, with these two powers having constructive discussions with one another. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated greatly over the past few months. However, the opportunity for these two powers to meet and discuss at a high-level meeting was a move that could improve their relations. Initially, it was a blow that Chinese President Xi Jinping was unable to attend the meeting. Nonetheless, under Chinese Premier Li Qiang, good progress was made. It was heartening that Premier Li stressed that China’s development is an opportunity for the US and China and US should step up exchanges between one another. One topic discussed was whether China would invade Taiwan due to its economic struggles. In response to that, US President Joe Biden confidently mentioned that he believes China would not invade despite its sluggish economic situation as he felt that its economic struggles might instead deter China from any form of invasion. Apart from the issue of Taiwan, President Biden talked a lot about the US’ relationship with China. President Biden cited that the US does not intend to contain China nor hinder China’s growth at all if it abides by the international rules. However, as China changes the “rules of the game”, the US feels that they should intervene to check China’s assertiveness. As such, while there were positive developments in their relations through their discussions on Taiwan and the enhancing of economic cooperation, tensions between the two nations are expected to remain, so long as the US and China disagree upon the “international rules of order” that they need to abide by.



Secondly, regarding the Russian-Ukrainian War, India strived to tone down criticism of Russia and find a common denominator to reduce divisions between the G20 bloc. Previously, during the G20 Summit in Bali, there was much debate on the language that should be used to describe the war in Ukraine. This time, India’s Prime Minister (PM) Modi introduced a declaration that pushed for addressing the drastic economic impact of the war and a declaration that condemned territorial acquisition by force and nuclear threats. This declaration was agreed upon by almost every power including Russia. In the declaration, Russia was not even labelled as an aggressor, which pleased Moscow. While the declaration was definitely something that reduced divisions between the G20, it did serve to anger a certain country outside of the G20. Ukraine. Ukraine believes the declaration was nothing for countries to be proud of and they felt their presence in the summit would have helped in the discussions for the declaration. Hence, while India was successful in reducing divisions within the G20 regarding the Russian-Ukrainian War, it might not have been beneficial for its relations with Ukraine as it shows their disregard for the opinions of Ukraine and highlights the exclusivity of the bloc.


Thirdly, the G20 summit also saw it becoming more representative of other continents like Africa, with the induction of the AU into the G20. Such a move was indicative of the group’s commitment to encourage participation from other countries in the world. Considering the AU includes many developing countries, the inclusion of the AU aligns with Modi’s plan for the G20 to bridge gaps between developing and developed economies. In addition, it ties in nicely with India’s vision to be the leader of the “Global South”. The Global South largely refers to countries belonging to the Group of 77 at the United Nations, with the group consisting of many developing countries like countries in the northern half of Africa and several pacific countries. The African Union’s addition to the G20 is key, as it can help to push for the interests of developing countries in areas like food security, health and climate change. Especially in the area of climate change, the Global South’s voice was key as they could express their challenges faced in transitioning to clean energy and discuss solutions with developed countries on the funding to allow them to switch to more renewable energy sources. Furthermore, another area that the G20 could aid in was in humanitarian assistance. The AU’s entrance into the G20 will simplify humanitarian assistance flow into Africa during certain crises as the AU can be a voice for these countries. One recent crisis was the earthquake in Morocco, where PM Modi mentioned that the G20 is ready to provide any assistance needed for Morocco. More importantly, with African countries being one of the biggest commodity producers in the world, its inclusion in the G20 is key. These commodities are important with the push for the digital economy and the rising production of electric vehicles in the future. Hence, the G20 Summit in India made a step in the right direction to be more representative of countries in the world through its addition of the African Union, an important entity as a member.


Fourthly, the G20 summit saw the leaders push for improvements in multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. These institutions agreed that they could do more in terms of aiding countries in climate change or low economic growth, following its mission of furthering its anti-poverty agenda. Notably, US President Joe Biden pushed for these reforms to occur. While such reforms are beneficial for many developing countries, it is worth noting that this is a strategic move as well for the US in its plan to check China’s assertiveness. For context, China’s method of gaining many allies has usually been through its generous loans to many developing countries. One example was with Honduras, where Honduras controversially broke off diplomatic ties not long after it received financial aid from China for an hydroelectric dam. Hence, with the IMF and the World Bank strengthening their capabilities in lending for climate change and infrastructure, it could probably act as an alternative body to lend funds to less developed countries. Simultaneously, they hope to resolve the issue of debt sustainability, to ensure that countries will be able to manage their debts properly and manage public finances to ensure they will not fall into debt traps. Now, with strengthened multilateral institutions like the IMF and the World Bank, it can act as a reliable organisation that developing countries can go to for financial aid, instead of resorting to borrowing from China.


Now, while there seems to be positive developments, the summit also has continued to ignore several issues. Despite the inclusion of the AU into the organisation, the G20 continues to simply be an organisation consisting of countries with prosperous economies who might not fully understand economic issues that it seeks to tackle. For example, when it comes to the issue of food security or poverty, many less developed economies would be able to provide a more insightful view on the issue as compared to these developed economies. Moreover, while it was a “diplomatic win” for India that it was able to tone down criticism of Russia, PM Modi’s desire to prevent the from war impacting the G20 agenda and its refusal to invite Ukraine has led to the G20 being limited in its ability to counter several economic issues caused by the war. For instance, the war has seen prices and availability of grain become affected, deeply impacting countries within the global south and yet this was barely touched on. Also, some have argued that this G20 summit has instead been PM Modi’s tool to elevate his own status and image to set the stage for the next election instead of bettering the world. This would not be the first time, as host countries tend to use the summit as a way to showcase their country, impress their own citizens and pursue their own interests. In this summit, India has also used it to seek greater partnership with countries in the middle-east, through the India-Middle East “transport corridor”, an ambitious plan expected to challenge China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As such, despite some progress, there is also great criticism towards the G20 considering the issues that remain unresolved due to the exclusivity of the summit and the possibility of the host country exploiting the summit for their own personal goals.


In conclusion, the G20 summit in India did see some progress with greater representation in the G20, US-China talks, reforms of multilateral institutions, and consensus on the attitudes towards the Russian-Ukraine war. However, limitations remain. These include the exclusivity of the bloc, ignorance of developing countries challenges and also the host country’s personal goals. Unfortunately, much of these issues would be difficult to resolve as the G20’s membership will mostly remain the same over the future. However, its move to include the AU is a great step in the right direction and the G20 has to continue to make these moves to better tackle issues faced by the world, especially challenges faced by less developed countries.




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