Modi Prepares For Biggest Diplomatic Challenge Yet

With both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping skipping the G20 summit in Delhi, experts tell Shweta Sharma that India's leader will struggle to foster unity in a divided world

- Shweta Sharma

When Narendra Modi addressed the G20's foreign ministers at a gathering in Delhi earlier this year, he urged the world's top diplomats to "rise above" their countries' differences and "build consensus". Citing India's chosen theme of "One Earth, One Family, One Future", he called upon member states to work together to "achieve common and concrete objectives".

That meeting, like every other ministerial meeting of India's G20 so far, ended without a joint statement. Now, with prime ministers and presidents descending on New Delhi for this weekend's leaders' summit, India faces the very real prospect of presiding over the first G20 ever to fail to agree a leaders' communique.

Analysts say India has faced a seemingly insurmountable task in bridging the gap between Western nations on one side and allies Russia and China on the other, with their differences over the Ukraine war having only widened throughout the year since India assumed the G20 presidency.

Nonetheless, the Indian government has invested a huge amount of time and money in presenting this G20 as the moment when the country takes on a leadership role on the world stage, with Modi himself as the "Vishwaguru" or global teacher providing a voice for the whole developing world.

Preparations for Delhi to host the high-stakes summit on Saturday and Sunday are in their final stages, with a beautification drive targeting unsightly open rubbish dumps and webs of hanging electrical wires, street dogs and monkeys temporarily driven out of the city centre, and new walls erected to obscure the view of slums and congested neighbourhoods.

A sprawling new convention centre, Bharat Mandapan, has been built in the heart of the national capital at the cost of Rs 27bn (£250m) to host dignitaries and media delegations from across the world.