The Delhi G20 Summit concluded successfully on Sunday. The two-day summit received approbation for conveying the “message of unity,” and the outcomes were referred to as “truly meaningful achievement.” India received praise for skillfully and efficiently conducting the proceedings.
There was considerable skepticism about whether there would be a concluding leaders’ declaration given the divergent opinions on the Ukraine war among the members of the Group of Twenty. Confounding such thinking, the Delhi Declaration, with 83 paragraphs, was adopted with consensus.
After prolonged and painstaking negotiations, a declaration reaffirming territorial integrity, sovereignty, and international law citing the UN Charter, Security Council, and General Assembly resolutions, was unanimously agreed upon by all member countries.
The inclusion of the AU in the G20 also indicates a nascent shift in the policies of the developed countries. Growing multipolarity is pushing many developed countries to reimagine their engagement with African countries.
Getting developing countries to participate in open and transparent economic and connectivity frameworks is also in the interest of the developed West.
For instance, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, at an event on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, announced the launch of the Trans-African Corridor. The proposed corridor seeks to improve linkages of the landlocked region to the sea by connecting the “port of Lobito in Angola with Katanga province in the [Democratic Republic of Congo] and the copper belt in Zambia.”
In a related development, the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) on the sidelines of the G20 Summit was a significant development. The IMEC memorandum of understanding was signed by the EU, France, Germany, India, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the US.
The IMEC envisages massive investments in infrastructure and connectivity projects such as ports, ship-to-rail transit linkages, electricity networks, digital cables, and pipelines to transport clean hydrogen. The IMEC has the potential to contribute to the emergence of resilient and reliable global supply chains.
Over the past few years, the Arab countries have scaled up their engagement with various powers across the world. The IMEC deal indicates the consolidation of diversified international engagement of the energy-rich Arab countries.
The IMEC also points to the importance of Arab countries to the Indo-Pacific region. The energy, digital and infrastructure cooperation with the Arab countries is critical for the prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region.
The inclusion of the African Union (AU) as a member of the G20 was a significant outcome of the Delhi Summit. With a combined GDP of about US$3 trillion and a population of 1.4 billion, Africa is not merely a significant provider of natural resources but a continent with many emerging economies.
Since the European Union was already a member, there was a precedent for the inclusion of the AU. It is expected that the AU will bring pan-African issues and will increase the diversity of voices in the G20 conversations.
After the G20 Summit, US President Joe Biden left India Sunday and headed to Vietnam for a state visit upon the invitation of General Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
The U.S. president arrived at Indira Gandhi Airport in New Delhi at around noon Sunday (Hanoi time), talking with staff of the U.S. Embassy before boarding the Air Force One to fly to Vietnam.
During the visit, President Biden met with Party chief Trong and other high-ranking Vietnamese officials to discuss their Comprehensive Partnership and set out vision for the relationships for the future.
