By Aneri Upadhyay
Staff Writer
The annual G20 summit showcases 20 of the world’s most influential nations in a conference where the representatives of each country discuss important issues such as climate change or the global economy.
This year the event took place from Sept. 9-10 in India’s capital, New Delhi. According to TIME, hosting the conference in India gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi the opportunity to show the world how much India has to offer.
Michael Kugelman, the director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, commented on Modi’s hope before the conference.
“New Delhi views the G20 presidency as an opportunity to show that it has the capacity to serve as a bridge to the Global South,” he told TIME. “It can show India’s ability to manage relations with rival powers.”
One of the key talking points from this year’s summit was the war going on between Russia and Ukraine. As reported by AP News, there has been difficulty finding the proper verbiage to describe the war.
The closing statement did not mention Russia’s involvement in the war, but rather commented on the suffering endured by Ukraine.
The summit also referenced the United Nations’ charter, quoting that “all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state. The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.”
Many countries see reaching any conclusion and statement release surrounding the war to be positive due to the fragility of and disputes surrounding the topic.
Another takeaway from the summit is the plan to build a rail and shipping corridor that would link India with the Middle East and Europe, as reported by AP News.
The corridor would help increase trade among different countries around the world and spread resources across nations for those in need. The countries included would be India, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the European Union and Israel, according to Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan.
As stated in PBS, this year’s summit was marked with the addition of the African Union as a member as well.
As reported by Reuters, the African Union holds 55 states and now has the same standing as the European Union as a permanent member. The African Union was referred to as an “invited international organization” in previous years.
The next couple of months will be critical in seeing how these changes develop and play a role in the relationships between the countries involved.
