The G20 Summit that came to an end on September 10 might have been a successful affair for Modi’s electoral mileage but it remained an uninspiring one for the international community. Time and again, Indian electors have fallen prey to PM Modi’s stunts that play around nationalistic slogans and fake sense of pride. BJP led Indian government while viewing G20 Summit as an opportunity to counter the narratives of allied opposition, convinced Indonesia to swap the event for 2022 to bring it closer as possible to the elections due in April-May 2024. Where all the optics, hype, and populism around this G20 Summit may yield better results for BJP next year, it had little or no optimism for the world at large. The Summit concluded with a meaningless declaration, lots of eye-catching pictures, populist statements, and announcements of unreal projects.

The absence of Chinese and Russian Presidents from the Summit not only made the whole affair an embarrassment but also rendered the G20 Summit dysfunctional for international engagements. Any declaration that does not include the second and third most powerful presidents in the world would not have a binding effect. Putin’s absence points to the failure of G20 to enable a dialogue between Russia and the US over the Ukraine crisis. On the other hand, President Xi’s non-attendance made G20 another tool for the US and its allies to counter China’s growing influence in the world. Given the kind of engagements that took place at the G20 Summit, it will not be wrong to assume that the host nation India and the US tried to turn the multi-nation platform into QUAD with more member states. It looked more of a ‘countering BRI’ initiative than the Summit of G20 states.

Climate change is a pressing international concern which the G20 failed to address in Delhi. G20 member states are said to be responsible for 80 percent of the total carbon emissions. Despite rising intensity of climate induced disasters in India particularly, and the world at large, no concrete steps were highlighted to phase out fossil fuels which are said to be the main cause of global warming. G20 Summit in Delhi will mark another wasted meeting of world leaders where no practical steps were pointed out to mitigate the drastic impact of climate change. Since electoral sloganeering and optics were higher on the priority list for the host country, there was very little space for key issues faced by the international community. Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and India itself are the G20 members said to be among the top twenty countries most vulnerable to climate induced disasters. The failure of G20 to protect its own members from climate change highlights the defunct nature of the alliance.

The reestablishment of the global financial system is another concern that the platform of ‘global south’ needed to address. The international banks and financial institutions have time and again failed to deliver which is evident from the fact that multiple third world countries have averted default or near default situations post COVID-19 Pandemic. The debate involving the restructuring of the system in ways that productive investments are encouraged has long been there. G20 would have been the most solid platform to introduce an action plan that mends ways in which global financial system operates. In contrast, nothing of that sort did come under discussion, and heads of states were mainly there for lobbying in order to pursue their geostrategic interests. Another pressing concern involving third world economies is the horrendous rise in the prices of crude. So called platform for ‘global south’ did not bother to discuss rising levels of inflation in the ‘global south’.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres had pointed out the disastrous possibility of the world being divided into two blocs, one led by the US and the other by China. There are very few platforms that have the capability to prevent such bipolarity and G20 was one of those. Post Delhi Summit, it now seems to be the extension of the US’ national security strategy. UN Secretary General advocated ambitious new goals for G20 countries ahead of the Summit where he urged wealthy countries to go carbon free by year 2040 and developing countries by 2050. The joint declaration issued post summit did not include any such will or action plan. This shows how much authority does the UN have over G20 countries. The only positive development that took place at this year’s G20 Summit was the inclusion of African Union as a member. It will give voice to 55 underdeveloped African countries during the next G20 Summit due to happen in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Let the world hope they make sense of it next year.

Writer is a Research Associate at the Centre for Law and Security, Islamabad. He can be reached at asfandyarkhan86@gmail.com or @AsfandKhan6 on twitter.