G20 Summit: Biden's Arrival in India Sets Stage for Key Talks with Modi

NEW DELHI: The countdown has begun for the two-day G20 Summit that starts on Saturday, with United States President Joe Biden expected to land in the Capital on Friday evening and hold bilateral talks soon thereafter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

World leaders of the G20 member-nations, leaders of the guest countries invited and heads of major international organisations are expected to pour into the Capital on Friday in time for the start of Summit on Saturday morning.
The US hinted that the G20 Summit could end without a consensus or joint statement in view of the position taken by Russia and China particularly on the Ukraine conflict.

According to media reports from Washington, when asked by reporters about a consensus, US National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby was quoted as saying, "We hope so. We certainly hope so. But, I mean, I think you know it's difficult to get 20 clocks to chime at the same time, so we're going to have to – we're going to work on this. We know that the Indians also would like to see a joint communique if you will, so we'll see where it goes.”

He was further quoted as saying, “Often times the sticking point tends to be the war in Ukraine because countries like Russia and China are less likely to sign on to language that the rest of the international community is more uncomfortable signing on to, so we'll see where it goes. But we'd like to see that, absolutely.”

As already reported, a senior European Union (EU) official had said earlier on Wednesday that the EU was not satisfied by the draft text for consensus put forward by India regarding the Ukraine issue since Russia and China were opposed to any reference to the Ukraine conflict in a joint statement including the one they had agreed to at the previous G20 Summit in Bali hosted by Indonesia last November.

New Delhi, which is in a tough spot, would like to focus on economic issues at the G20 especially those impacting the Global South such as Food, fertilizer and fuel security especially in the wake of both the Covid pandemic and tensions relating to the Ukraine crisis that have disrupted supply chains in the past three years. Action against economic offenders and financial issues such as crypto currency are also expected to figure during the discussions along with issues involving global lending institutions and developing nations. New Delhi is also expected to strongly push for strengthening global supply chains.

The G20, or Group of Twenty, is an “intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies and comprises 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkiye and the US) and the European Union (EU)” Collectively, the G20 “accounts for 85 percent of global GDP, 75 percent  of international trade and two-thirds of the world’s population, making it the premier forum for international economic cooperation”.

India, as the G20 Presidency, has invited Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and UAE as guest countries and most of them are expected to attend.

While New Delhi has not officially confirmed the schedule of Modi’s bilateral meetings on Friday, some media reports suggested that he may meet his Mauritius counterpart Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Friday.

Also invited are the ISA (International Solar Alliance), CDRI (Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure) and ADB (Asian Development Bank) as Guest IOs” (International organisations). This is “in addition to the regular IOs (UN, IMF, World Bank, WHO, WTO, ILO, FSB and OECD) and Chairs of Regional Organisations—AU, AUDA-NEPAD (both Africa-related) and (south-east Asian grouping) ASEAN.