Saturday, September 9; and Sunday, September 10, were eventful days in New Delhi, the protagonist of the annual G20 meeting, the annual summit that brings together the world's major powers.
But what is the G20?
The G20, as explained by the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, is an informal international group that brings together Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, France, Germany, Japan, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Russia, the United States, South Africa, Turkey, and the European Union. G20 meetings are also attended by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, major international organizations and Spain, a permanent invitee.
Established as meetings based on soft law, i.e., non-binding treaties and joint summit declarations that states then informally commit to pursue within national political agendas, today G20 meetings have broadened their areas of discussion to include within the agendas not only economic-financial issues, but also development, energy, climate change, health, etc. Officially, foreign policy issues are not addressed, although the presence of many Leaders at the Summits provides an important opportunity for dialogue even on current international issues off the agenda.
The G20 in New Delhi
The eighteenth Group of Twenty summit in September 2023 was held at Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre in New Delhi, and major absentees included Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. While the former had let it be known through his spokesman Dmitry Peskov that he would remain in Russia to focus on special military operations (although the real reason lay in the fact that subsequent to the arrest warrant for war crimes issued last March 17, 2023 by the International Criminal Court, President Putin is likely to be arrested outside Russian borders), Xi Jinping had stated that he would not attend the summit in New Delhi and that Prime Minister Li Qiang would be present instead.
What emerged from the summit?
The theme of this summit meeting was "One Earth, One Family, One Future," and during the two-day conference important issues such as climate and energy, sustainable development, digitalization, gender equality, and international security issues arising from the conflict in Ukraine were discussed.
In addition, an important step was taken by admitting within the Conference of the Big Twenty the African Union, which was appointed as a permanent member of the G20, similarly to the European Union (already a permanent member), in order to allow for adequate representation of the African continent, which, prior to this entry, could only count on the representation of South Africa within the group.
Regarding decisions made with reference to climate, energy and sustainable development, leaders committed to reducing carbon emissions and pursuing environmentally sustainable and climate change resilient development paths, also agreeing to triple global renewable energy generation capacity by 2030. Also of notable importance was the agreement to restore at least 30 percent of all degraded ecosystems by 2030.
Turning instead to the area related to digitization, leaders stressed the importance of digitization and technology to the contemporary world, tools that must be used to accelerate progress toward inclusive and sustainable development. However, in addition to the consensus for improved access to digital services and digital public infrastructure, leaders advocated for greater control of risks related to the evolution of the crypto-assets ecosystem.
In addition to this, gender equality was also discussed, an area where there is still a wide global gap and on which leaders expressed a firm thought: halving the digital gender gap by 2030. Promoting women's full, equal and meaningful participation in the economy and ensuring food and nutrition security for women were also discussed.
Finally, a political parenthesis was addressed to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The leaders were united in affirming the principle expressed in Article 2 para. 4 of the UN Charter, which states that all states shall refrain from the use of threats or force or the pursuit of territorial acquisition to the detriment of the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state, demonstrating themselves in defense of all the purposes of the UN Charter.
Under this aegis, therefore, they called for an end to military destruction or other attacks on food and energy infrastructure, highlighting the negative repercussions of the war in Ukraine, particularly on developing countries, especially in the areas of food supply and food security, but also growth and inflation.
Translated by Denise Praticò.
Mondo Internazionale APS - Reproduction Reserved ® 2023
Bibliography:
https://www.reuters.com/world/key-takeaways-2023-g20-summit-new-delhi-2023-09-10/
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/it/meetings/international-summit/2023/09/09-10/
https://unsplash.com/it/foto/un-uomo-che-guida-un-carrello-lungo-una-strada-g1U4-pEq9JA (Image)
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L'Autore
Elisa Modonutti
Studentessa di Scienze internazionali e diplomatiche, amante della lettura, dei viaggi e con una curiosità innata di scoprire il mondo che ci circonda
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G20 sustainable growth ukranian war technological innovation technological development