What The G20 Summit Success Means For India And The World

As the Indian Presidency of G20 begins wrapping up, after a weekend which brought the world to Delhi for an extraordinarily successful leaders' summit, New Delhi can breathe a sigh of relief that all went well. And it can take justifiable pride in its achievements.

- Prashant Jha

The summit and its declaration, as well as the bilateral and plurilateral meetings on the sidelines, reflected Indian foreign policy priorities and the nature of its relationships with key actors.

The declaration will also have implications for bilateral ties, particularly with the US, Russia and China, India's quest to be the voice of the Global South, and efforts to revive reformed multilateralism at a particularly bleak time in the international system.

In his book, The India Way, external affairs minister S Jaishankar wrote: "This is a time for us to engage America, manage China, cultivate Europe, reassure Russia, bring Japan into play, draw neighbours in, extend the neighbourhood, and expand traditional constituencies of support." On each of these fronts, Îndia succeeded in meeting its objective.

ENGAGING AMERICA

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi's State visit to the US in June represented a Great Leap Forward, President Joe Biden's visit to India represented consolidation and deepening of trust. Think of the two visits as a blistering opener setting the stage for a big score, to be followed by a solid middle-order knock to consolidate the innings. This was reflected in cooperation at the global, regional, and bilateral levels.