G20 Summit set to begin on Sept 9 in Delhi; here’s everything you need to know

The 18th Heads of State and Government Summit of the Group of 20 (G20) will be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10.

The high-level summit will be hosted at the state-of-the-art Bharat Mandapam Convention Centre at Pragati Maidan.

Under the Indian Presidency, the G20 Summit will focus on the theme: ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ to mark the significance of human, animal, plant, and microorganisms and their interconnectedness on the planet and universe.

The summit signals the culmination of all G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials, and civil societies.

A G20 Leaders’ Declaration will be adopted at the conclusion of the G20 Summit, stating the leaders’ commitment towards the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings.

Read: UNWTO, G20 launch dashboard to support tourism, advance SDGs

What is the G20?

An international body of the world’s major economies, the Group of Twenty or G20 was established in 1999 and comprises 19 countries plus the European Union.

The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

According to g20.org, it is the “premier forum for international economic cooperation and it plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues”.

Over time, the forum has expanded its agenda to include inter-alia, trade, climate change, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, environment, climate change, and anti-corruption.

The G20 does not have a permanent secretariat or staff, with the presidency rotating annually among the members, who are divided into groups.

The 19 member countries are divided up into five groups comprising a maximum of four countries each.

Most of the groups are formed on a regional basis, that is countries from the same region are usually put in the same group. Only Group 1 (Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the US) and Group 2 (India, Russia, South Africa and Türkiye) do not follow this pattern.

Group 3 includes Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico; Group 4 includes France, Germany, Italy, and UK, and Group 5 includes China, Indonesia, Japan, and Republic of Korea. The EU, the 20th member, is not a member of any of these regional groups.

Each year another country from a different group assumes the G20 Presidency. The countries in a group are each equally entitled to take on the presidency when it is their group’s turn.

India, from Group 2, holds the current presidency of the G20 from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023.

The G20 Presidency is responsible for bringing together the G20 agenda in consultation with other members and in response to developments in the global economy.

To ensure continuity, the presidency is supported by a ‘troika’ consisting of the current, immediate past and next host countries.

During India’s presidency, the members of the G20 troika are Indonesia, India and Brazil.

Timeline of the G20 Summit

2008: The first summit was held in Washington DC, setting the pace for reform in global finance in over 60 years. At the follow-up summit in 2009 in London (UK), the G20 agreed to blacklist states that refused to cooperate on efforts to tackle tax evasion and avoidance.

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the G20 resolved to impose stricter controls on hedge funds and rating agencies. Institutional reforms included the expansion of the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) to make it an effective supervisory and watchdog body for the global financial system. It was renamed the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

2009: The G20 summit in Pittsburgh established the G20 as a major decision-making body on matters relating to the global economy. The summit agreed on stricter regulations for the banking sector, which helped reduce the financial risk to governments and taxpayers. The G20 was then officially classified as the “premier forum for international economic cooperation.”

2010 and 2011: The G20 summits in Toronto (Canada) and Seoul (Republic of Korea) in 2010, and Cannes (France) in 2011 focused on reducing sovereign debt, reforming the financial system, and promoting development.

2012: Held In Los Cabos (Mexico), the G20 Summit focused on fighting youth unemployment and creating quality jobs. It also discussed the link between development, agriculture, and green growth.

2013: During the summit in St. Petersburg, the group made progress on combating tax evasion and avoidance. Member states agreed on automatic exchange of tax information and the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.

2014: During the summit in Brisbane, Australia, the G20 set an ambitious goal of increasing its collective GDP by an additional 2 per cent. The member states also agreed on the Common Reporting Standard for Automatic Exchange of Tax Information and the ‘Brisbane 25 by 25’ goal to reduce the gender gap in the labour workforce by 25 per cent by 2025.

2015: In Antalya (Türkiye), the G20 Summit looked at migration and refugee movement for the first time. The members also agreed on financial sector reforms and supported the global climate agreement. At the Summit in Hangzhou (China) in 2016, the focus was on strengthening long-term inclusive growth and linking sustainable growth and social welfare. Digital economy was included in the agenda for the first time. The member states adopted the ‘G20 Action Plan on 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’.

2017: At the Hamburg Summit, the focus was on addressing terrorism and climate change. The members endorsed the Paris Agreement and committed to universal access to affordable and clean energy. They also launched the G20 Africa Partnership.

2018: In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the member states focused on fair and sustainable development. Their priority areas were the future of work, the fourth industrial revolution, health, youth, infrastructure for development, and sustainable food security. They also sought to build on the legacy of past presidencies on issues such as empowering women, fighting corruption, and strengthening financial governance.

2019: The G20 Summit focused on trade and investment, excess capacity of steel, digitalisation, data free flow with trust, base erosion and profit sharing, quality infrastructure investment, anti-corruption, climate change, energy, environment, displacement and migration. The member states also released a statement on preventing the exploitation of the internet for terrorism.

2020: In In Saudi Arabia, the G20 held its first virtual summit to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the global economy. The leaders committed to injecting over $5tn into the global economy and endorsed the Debt Service Suspension Initiative and the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI to provide liquidity relief to debt ridden countries. They also adopted an action plan in response to Covid-19 and convened a joint meeting of the Finance and Health Ministers.

2021: In Italy, the G20 Summit focused on recovery from the pandemic, economic recovery and resilience, climate change, and sustainable development and food security. The members also held a Global Health Summit and endorsed the ‘Final Political Agreement’ on a two-pillar solution to address tax challenges.

2022: In Indonesia, the G20 Summit focused on three main pillars: global health architecture, digital transformation, and sustainable energy transitions. Member states also declared to stay agile and flexible in their macro-economic policy responses, protect macroeconomic and financial stability, take action to promote food and energy security, unlock further investments for developing countries, and recommit to accelerate achievement of the SDGs.

2023: In this year’s edition, all hopes are pinned on G20 nations to take a greater leadership role in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Info courtesy: G20.org

Global leaders attending the G20 Summit

US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are among the confirmed attendees.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is also set to start a state visit to India after participating in the G20 Summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending; Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent Russia at the summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping will also be giving the summit a miss and will be represented by Premier Li Qiang.

Heads of delegations continue to arrive in New Delhi for the #G20 Summit.

Welcome to India, Secretary-General @OECD @MathiasCormann; Managing Director @IMFnews @KGeorgieva; Director-General @WTO @NOIweala; and Minister of Economy, Raquel Buenrostro Sánchez of Mexico.#G20India pic.twitter.com/U4kUaj9V5s

— G20 India (@g20org) September 7, 2023

The Indian government has  launched the ‘G20 India’ mobile app to ensure a seamless and smooth experience for attending delegates.

The app also features member countries’ language options to help delegates access navigation facilities during the summit.

The Indian PM also released special G20 commemorative postage stamps and coins to mark India’s presidency. The designs of both the coins and stamps draw inspiration from India’s G20 Logo and theme.