6 MAY ,2023.
The horizon for India beyond the G20, SCO summits(PG 8)(GS2)
6 MAY ,2023.
•India’s yearlong presidency of the G20, and leadership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), should not blind us to the persisting challenges the nation faces, due to a concatenation of circumstances.
• It must, hence, tone down the high expectations that are being generated of reaping a rich dividend from helming the two summits. Global peace, on which India’s Prime Minister had waxed eloquent at the last G20 summit in Indonesia, is nowhere in sight with India holding the reins.
•Instead, everything points to a further deterioration in the geopolitical climate, and to a distinct possibility of impending conflict.
• Priorities listed by India as signifying its presidency, viz., climate change, clean energy, sustainable developmental programmes and reform of multilateral institutions, are likely to take a back seat, given the deteriorating global situation.
•Consequently, hopes of reaping a rich dividend from the summitry may be misplaced. India also needs to be aware that the importance of the G20 appears to be declining in today’s world.
•The SCO seems to have somewhat greater traction. During its presidency of the two institutions, India may well be called upon to chart a course that balances the contradictory demands of the G20 and the SCO — and even more so that of the Global South. All this leaves little room for grandstanding, and India should proceed with caution