Prime Minister Narendra Modi proudly announced on Saturday that India will host the G20 summit in 2022. He made the announcement during the closing ceremony of the G20 summit held this year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and also thanked Italy for swapping schedules with India to facilitate India’s wish to host the international forum of top 20 economies in the auspicious year which marks the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.
While Japan will host the summit in 2019, Saudi Arabia in 2020 and Italy in 2021, India will be the only South Asian country to host this event, boosting India’s role in representing concerns dear to a poorly represented South Asia. The host country of the G20 summit assumes Presidency over the group for that particular year and primarily sets the agenda for talks. It organizes meetings and invites additional attendees of their own volition. The role of the host country is crucial as G20 has no headquarters or staff of its own.
Globally, G20 represents 84 per cent of the world economy, 79 per cent of the world trade and 80 per cent of global investments in research and development. It also covers 65 per cent of the world population and around half of the world land area. Issues pertaining to the global economy dominate the agenda of the summit, but other pertinent agendas such as advancement of women in the job market, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and anti-terrorism.
This year at the G20 summit was a splendid year for India. India engaged in its trilateral meeting (JAI) with USA and Japan, where the three nations addressed Indo-pacific, maritime and connectivity concerns. India was also part of a triumvirate with China and Russia, emerging as a common factor between two trilateral summits among global superpowers. India also had a series of bilateral meetings with China, France, Germany, Spain and Saudi Arabia.
The Prime Minister also presented to the G20 nations a nine-point agenda calling for strong and active cooperation to deal fugitive economic offenders, including denying them safe havens in their countries and also called for strengthening FATF’s role in acting against fugitive economic offenders.
In the not so recent past, India used to be hyphenated with the so-called third-world countries in terms of diplomatic clout, economic and social indicators and even the utilization of hard power. Hosting the G20 summit in 2022, being the fastest growing large economy, having one of the most powerful militaries of the world and arguably the most diverse country in the world, will be a major boost for India’s reputation, inflating its presence on the global canvas. The growing clout of India’s soft power is indicative of the fact that the de-hyphenation with the so-called third world countries is complete and now India is recognized as one of the prime movers in the International system. With a slew of other feats scheduled to be achieved in 2022, including the first manned space flight, India shall be prepared for the world’s spotlight shining on it.