How India seized the G20 opportunity
International summits are supposed to be about declarations and outcomes. This is true of the Delhi event as well. While the AU membership and the crossing of the Ukraine bridge were significant achievements, most of the expected outcomes—embracing technological innovation, spreading digital public infrastructure, reforming multilateral development banks or acting on climate change, or even the Black Sea grain initiative — are yet to be realised. Neither did the presence of the G7 leaders give us a clear-cut picture of how they will spur the development of the Global South nations and assist their economies to cope with climate change.
A big question that roiled the summit was the uncharacteristic absence of Xi Jinping. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Xi had been one of the world’s most travelled leaders. He didn’t travel during the two years of the pandemic, and this year he has been out of China only twice.
