Osaka/Japan: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Japan later this week for two days – June 28, 29 – to participate in the 14th G20 Summit in Osaka. This is the sixth G20 that Prime Minister Modi will be participating in since 2014 and first in his second term. PM Modi had earlier participated in G20 summits in Brisbane (2014), Antalya (2015), Hangzhou (2016), Hamburg (2017) and Buenos Aires (2018).
On the sidelines of the summit, Prime Minister Modi is expected to have almost 10 bilaterals and pull asides.
He will be meeting Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. This will be Modi’s first meet with Shinzo Abe and Donald Trump in his second term as the Prime Minister. He met Chinese and Russian leaders on the sidelines of Shanghai cooperation organisation Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan just two weeks ago.
During last year’s summit in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, PM Modi met these leaders under the JAI – Japan, America, India grouping, RIC – Russia, India and china trilaterals. Remember the informal meet between Modi and Xi during the informal BRICS summit at the 2017 Hamburg G20 acted as a major icebreaker between the two countries in the backdrop of Doklam crisis that year.
New Delhi is expected to strongly raise the issue of economic offenders and black money.
“We are keen that the economic offenders and those who are the perpetrators of economic crime, holders of black money should be brought to book. Those are running away from India should be brought back and no country should provide them shelter,” India’s sherpa or the chief negotiator for G20, Suresh Prabhu, told WION.
Apart from the issues of economic offenders and black money, climate change, counter-terrorism, disaster resilient infrastructure, reformed multilateralism, WTO reforms will be other focus for India. The summit is happening in the backdrop of trade wars between US and China and Washington’s diminishing commitment to global trade body – WTO (World Trade Organisation).
“India is of the strong view that global trade should be free from any restrictions. Multilateral should prevail, it should happen under WTO. Reforming WTO is necessary, but it should happen in a way that all the countries in the world should have the right to decide. WTO should be forum for growth, equity and inclusiveness,” Prabhu explained.
But the annual gathering of the world’s power club will have plenty to talk about including the much talked about meeting between US president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping to resolve issues on trade. The US-Iran tiff is also expected to dominate the discourse.
The theme of this year’s summit under the Japanese Presidency is “Human centered future society” and focus will be on a range of issues from Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence to Inclusive and Sustainable World and pressing issues like Energy and Environment, Global Health, Climate change and Marine plastic waste.
G20 emerged in the backdrop of Asian financial crisis in 1999 when it was a forum of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of developing and developed countries.
After 2008 global financial crisis, it took shape in its present forum and has summits across the world.
G20 members represent around 85 per cent of global gross domestic product, over 75 per cent of global trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population.
Bureau Report
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