G20 Delhi Summit – Part 2

(இதன் தமிழ் வடிவத்திற்கு இங்கே சொடுக்கவும்)

Major Outcomes of G20 Summit 2023

Healthcare Resilience and Research

• The G20 New Delhi Leaders' Declaration places significant emphasis on healthcare.
• It prioritizes the need to build a resilient healthcare system.
• It commits to strengthening the global health architecture to create more resilient, equitable, sustainable, and inclusive health systems.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) is at the core of this effort.
• The goal is to enhance primary healthcare, the health workforce, and essential health services to levels better than pre-pandemic within the next two to three years.
• In addition to addressing ongoing epidemics like tuberculosis and AIDS, the G20 recognizes the importance of research on long Covid.
• India’s G20 presidency also pushed for the integration of evidence-based traditional medicine practices with modern medicine.
• There is an emphasis on adopting a one-health approach, which tracks diseases in animals, plants, and humans within the same mechanism, with a particular focus on tackling antimicrobial resistance.

Finance Track Agreements

• India's G-20 presidency has laid the foundation for a coordinated and comprehensive policy and regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.
• The emergence of global consensus on crypto asset regulation was emphasized.
• G-20 leaders have recognized the pressing need for more robust and effective Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to address the high developmental demands globally.
• The India Stack model of digital public infrastructure for financial inclusion is acknowledged as a promising approach.
• The G-20 leaders' New Delhi Declaration underscores the monitoring of risks associated with the rapid developments in the crypto-asset ecosystem.

India-Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA)

• India and Brazil agreed to work together for the expansion of India-Mercosur PTA to promote economic ties.
• Mercosur is a trading bloc in Latin America, comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
• The India-Mercosur PTA came into effect on June 1, 2009.
• It is aimed to eliminate customs duties on a limited number of goods agreed between India and the Mercosur bloc.

Climate Financing Commitment

• This declaration emphasizes a substantial increase in climate financing.
• It is calling for a "quantum jump" from billions of dollars to trillions of dollars.
• It underscores the need for significant financial resources including USD.
• Climate financing is need for 5.8-5.9 trillion in the pre-2030 period for developing countries and USD 4 trillion per year for clean energy technologies by 2030 to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Transition of G20 Presidency

• Prime Minister of India handed over the G20 presidency to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will officially take over the presidency on December 1, 2023.

Latest India-US Collaboration at G20 Summit 2023

• India and the United States are strengthening their technology partnership.
• They are focusing on resilient semiconductor supply chains, and telecom infrastructure.
• India supports the US 'Rip and Replace' pilot project, aligning with the removal of Chinese telecom equipment.
• India and the US reaffirmed their commitment to deepen and diversify the India-US Major Defence Partnership through expanded cooperation in new and emerging domains such as space and artificial intelligence (AI).

Bilateral Discussions

• Numerous bilateral discussions are unfolded, including a pivotal meeting between Indian Prime Minister Modi and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, reinforcing diplomatic ties.

India-Bangladesh

• India-Bangladesh sign 3 MoUs after bilateral meet
• First, an MoU on cooperation in Digital Payment mechanisms was signed between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Bangladesh Bank.
• Second, the MoU will be focused on the renewal of the Cultural Exchange Program (CEP) between India and Bangladesh for 2023-2025.
• The third MoU was signed between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC).

Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) Launch

• PM Modi introduced the Global Biofuel Alliance.
• It is rallying G20 nations to take ethanol blending with petrol to a global 20% standard.
• It is a grouping of more than 30 countries and international institutions.
• It is facilitating adoption of biofuels, thereby unlocking bioenergy access in emerging economies.
• GBA Members constitute major producers and consumers of biofuels.
• USA (52 per cent), Brazil (30 per cent) and India (3 per cent), and contribute about 85 per cent share in production and about 81 per cent in consumption of ethanol.
• The global ethanol market was valued at $99.06 billion in 2022.
• It is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 5.1% by 2032 and surpass $162.12 billion by 2032.
• The initiative will be beneficial for India at multiple fronts.
• GBA as a tangible outcome of the G20 presidency will help strengthen India’s position globally.

India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor

• Leaders inaugurated the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.
• It is a massive rail and shipping connectivity project, fostering economic integration across regions.
• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed among the governments of India, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the European Union, the UAE, France, Germany, and Italy to establish the India – Middle East – Europe Economic Corridor.
• IMEC is envisioned as a network of transportation routes encompassing railways and sea lanes.
• Its primary objective is to promote economic development by fostering integration between Asia, the Arabian Gulf, and Europe.

G20 Commitment to Cross-Border Payments

• G20 nations committed to promoting faster, transparent, and inclusive cross-border payments, in line with the G20 roadmap.

UK-India FTA Discussions

• India and the UK discussed their growing ties and progress towards delivering a UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

G20 on Indian Agriculture

• The G20 leaders have experienced India’s agricultural prowess through exhibitions and farm-to-fork experiences.

Territorial Integrity and Sovereignty

• The G20 declaration called for all states to uphold principles of territorial integrity, sovereignty, and peaceful conflict resolution.

Peace in Ukraine

• The G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration stressed the importance of peaceful conflict resolution and refraining from war in today’s era.
• The Finance Minister added that they had developed recommendations regarding financial inclusion and enhancing productivity through digital infrastructure.
• The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also noted that there was an agreement on establishing a debt relief framework for Zambia, Ghana, and Ethiopia.

Major Misses in the G20 Summit

Transport corridor  

• There were no details about financing or a time frame for the project that involved laying down railway lines in the Middle East and then connecting them to India by port.

Biofuel Alliance

• India currently battles deep malnutrition, hyper food inflation and bad harvests.
• Converting arable land for ethanol production seems to please the US which has major interest in biofuel.

Climate change 

• The G20 nations collectively contribute to approximately 80% of global emissions.
• However, the leaders at the G20 Summit did not reach a consensus on the phase-out of fossil fuels.
• It also did not provide any plan to amend existing policies and targets in order to achieve the target of ramping of renewable energy.

Absence of leaders

• This year's summit is notable for the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Global financial system reforms 

• The summit talked about restructuring the global financial system that was devised in the Bretton Woods Conference at the end of World War II but there are no timelines or an action plan.

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