(26 Nov 22)
On 26th November 2022, the Forum for Global Studies organized a round table discussion session on the theme “India’s G20 Presidency: Leadership in the Era of Great Challenges and New Horizons.” The list of panelists included Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar, Major General S.V.P Singh (veteran), Journalist Smita Sharma, and Dr. Himanshu Bose, Registrar, IGNOU.
Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar has worked for Indian Foreign Services for over three decades. He was an Ambassador of India in Kazakhstan, Sweden, Latvia, and has worked in different diplomatic positions in Washington DC, Brussels, Moscow, Geneva, Tehran, Dhaka, and Bangkok. He is currently the President of Institute of Global Studies in New Delhi.
Major General S.V.P Singh, VSM is a veteran who has participated in various military operations including the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. He is an alumnus of Rashtriya Indian Military College, NDA and a graduate of DSSC & NDC. He was also ADG Artillery at the Army HQ. He often appears in various news channels as a defence expert.
Miss Smita Sharma is an award winning, independent journalist. She has been the former deputy editor of ‘The Tribune’. She won the prestigious Ram Nath Goenka award for her excellent reportage of Kashmir conflict in 2010. She has been associated with many news channels like India Today, Aaj Tak and DD News. She has been a former fellow and alumni of Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.
Dr. Himanshu Bose is presently the Registrar at IGNOU, and one of the founding members of Indian Think Tank CSIR. The list of hosts included Col. M.K Singh, Honorary Director of Research, Forum for Global Studies and Mr. Vinay Kumar, Centre for World Affairs, Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad.
Starting the discussion, Col. M. K. Singh welcomed the panelists and invited them to share their valuable insights on ibid topic.
Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar stated that the significance of G-20 has increased manifold in the contemporary world since the multilateral institutions like UN have failed to deliver anything substantial. He pointed out that the G-20 members account for more than 80% of the global GDP, 75 % of Global Trade and 60% of the world population.
He stated that G-20 is mainly an economic bloc since its formation could be attributed to the 2008 economic crisis. Moreover, it is a non-binding forum but has a considerable say in the geo-political and the geo-economic trajectory of the global world. He praised the Indian foreign policy and felt that India has truly emerged as a voice of global south which can express the collective concerns of these poor countries at such a big platform. He was very optimistic about India’s upcoming presidency and pointed that India should move strongly towards showcasing its soft power. He ended by stating that he was eagerly looking forward to the upcoming G-20 summit in India and praised the proactive approach of India’s leadership.
Major Gen SVP Singh, VSM started by highlighting the gradual growth trajectory of India’s stature in the world since its independence in 1947. He pointed to the importance of economic growth of India in intensifying its position on G-20 platform and in the world. He also raised the issue of changing global order and the rise of the tripolar world order with gradually India becoming its main constituent. He stated that the G-20 canvas is largely informal but is highly influenced by the current Russia-Ukraine crisis. He felt that India’s management of COVID-19 and digitization of health services also played a stellar role in the raising its status in the global world. However, he suggested that India should now focus more on issues like climate change, global terrorism and how to take global trade forward. He emphasized the need for G-20 countries to first identify the issues of convergence to work together in the presently polarized and divided world.
Ms. Smita Sharma started by posing some crucial questions on how to perceive G-20 in the contemporary global order. She pointed to certain facts on poverty, the crises arising out of the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, supply chain disruptions and political divide across the globe. She questioned the role of G-20 nations in augmenting the global economic governance despite its formation being attributed to the global financial crisis. She, in fact, pointed that G-20 forum has created a divide between the developed and the developing nations. She also revealed that some domestic political differences are presently creating hurdles in India’s growth. She stated that India has huge opportunities to exploit during its presidency of G-20 and pointed to five major areas- growth, resilience, sustainability, WTO reforms, and prosperity.
India has already been successfully mediated in many a geo-political confrontations through dialogue. She stated that India should not align its domestic political goals with the international interests, keeping them apart. She also shared her experience during the last SCO summit. She ended by saying that India should try to bring about consensus amongst the states and work towards mitigating the ongoing global issues, especially the challenges of sustainability and climate change.
Mr. Himanshu Bose started by pointing that one year of presidency is a very short time span in international relations and foreign policy. So, the expectations should remain commensurate and hence limited with respect to the G-20 summit to be held in India. He stated the need for India to align the member states interests with the global challenges and build a consensus upon it. He also felt that G-20 could become a bridge between G-7 and G-77 groupings, mainly between the developed and the developing blocs. He expressed that India should use this platform to showcase its soft power through the theme ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. He observed that it will be a big opportunity for India to showcase its leadership skills and eventually strengthen its claim to the UNSC permanent seat.
The floor was then opened for a question and answer session. Mr. Anubhav, a student from Maharashtra Law university, asked the question that should India not choose to come closer to the USA due to its technological superiority and developed nation status? And whether this will affect its plausible relationship with Russia.
Ms Smita Sharma replied by stating the fact that foreign policy is not driven by zero-sum game. She reminded the deep historical friendly relationship between India and Russia. She said that though the Indo-Russian defence trade has dropped significantly over time but still India chose an autonomous foreign policy stance while dealing with nations and does not take sides. She opined that when engaging with countries on G-20 platform, India should not bring any bilateral issues but should ensure that common multi-lateral issues are given priority. India and emerging countries should play a crucial role in resolving global challenges like climate change, food shortages, energy crisis and supply chain disruptions. She also presented some examples wherein USA did not India in the past and instances where they differed in their foreign policy approaches. She also strongly opined that India should not try to strengthen its relationship with the USA at the cost of its independent relationship with Russia.
Major General S.V.P Singh, VSM also commented to the enormous complexities in driving the foreign policy of a nation. He said that there are no permanent interests nor permanent friends in international polity. He also pointed that financial costs could also play a crucial role in USA defending its allies. He quoted the example of colossal American aids provided to Britain during the World Wars. Financial cost was the main reason why the Americans joined the World War-II so very late. He mentioned that NATO still a divided house. However, the Russia-Ukraine crisis has been successful in uniting the members nations to some extent.
Col M K singh vociferously praised the independent foreign policy of India which gives it a strategic autonomy. He expressed that the only way forward for India is to become ‘Atma-Nirbhar’ in its defence needs and remain independent in applying its foreign policy.
With that, Dr. Sandeep Tripathi, Founder and President, Forum for Global Studies thanked all the participants for placing their valuable insights and views on the topic which would go a long way in assisting the policy makers, academicians as well as practitioners of global affairs.