G20 Summit: What is on the agenda and what has happened at the meetings so far?

What will happen at the 2023 G20 Summit, what is the agenda?

No concrete agenda is mentioned at the outset of G20 summits. But based on the theme this year, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: One Earth, One Family, One Future’, India has put the focus on sustainability as a core issue.

A recent statement from the White House also said that “G20 partners will discuss a range of joint efforts to tackle global issues, including on the clean energy transition and combatting climate change, mitigating the economic and social impacts of Putin’s war in Ukraine, and increasing the capacity of multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, to better fight poverty, including by addressing global challenges.”

India has also presented itself as the “voice of the Global South”, a medium through which underrepresented countries in global affairs will have their issues heard. One aspect of this is acting as a party that can strike a middle-ground when it comes to global conflicts – such as the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the Delhi summit, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will represent his country. Earlier this month, Lavrov said Russia would block the final declaration of this month’s G20 summit unless it reflects Moscow’s position on Ukraine and other crises, and this could lead to participants issuing a non-binding or partial communique, Reuters reported.

Notably, the Bali Declaration of 2022 during last year’s summit spoke about most of the G20 members “strongly” condemning the Ukraine War. It also said that “there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions.” But since then, the divide between the West and Russia has deepened.

Also, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met briefly during a dinner hosted in Indonesia last year’s summit, it was after a break of two years. On account of the ‘abnormal’ ties between the two countries, with border issues in the western sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in Ladakh, dialogue among them in New Delhi was anticipated as being key to maintaining communication channels.

At the recently concluded BRICS Summit in Africa, too, PM Modi and President Xi had “agreed” to “direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation” of troops along the LAC; but both countries later gave differing accounts of the meeting’s outcome. Xi is no longer attending the G20 summit. Instead, Chinese Premier Li Qiang will be present.

What has happened at this year’s G20 meetings so far?

Throughout the year, meetings take place in various cities of the host country on a range of sectors – health, tourism, finance and so on. This happens under different ‘Tracks’, with some involving government officials and others including non-governmental actors, such as civil society organisations. For a detailed overview, you can click here to read our recent explainer.

As of last month, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that 185 meetings, including 13 ministerial-level meetings, had been held so far. Twelve outcome documents and 12 other deliverables had been adopted with consensus but no joint communiques have been adopted. Here is a look at some major meetings, and you can click on the attached links for more detailed reports on them.

Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting

The positions taken by Russia on the language related to Ukraine have been supported by China in many instances. In February 2023, the first meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) in Bengaluru under India’s presidency stopped short of issuing a Communique. It released instead a “Chair’s Summary and Outcome Document” after Russia and China opposed the paragraphs condemning Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Summary were “exactly what the Bali Leaders’ Summit had come up with… But, two countries — Russia and China — had reservations. So, with a footnote, certainly a Communique can’t go out. And therefore, it had to be a Chair’s Summary and Outcome Document”.

The two contested paragraphs reiterated the stance of member nations about the ongoing war, and deplored “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine” while demanding Russia’s “complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine”. The “peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital,” and “Today’s era must not be of war”, the paragraphs opposed by Russia and China underline.

The summary noted enhancing international policy cooperation and steering the global economy towards securing strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.

Tourism Ministerial Meeting

Held over four days in Goa in June, the G20 Tourism ministerial meeting saw more than 12 countries’ ministers participating. China, which didn’t send its representation to the previous tourism working group meeting in Srinagar, didn’t attend this meeting as well.

The ministers unanimously supported the five tourism priority areas identified by India’s G20 Presidency — ‘Green Tourism; Digitalisation, Skills, Tourism MSMEs, and Destination Management’. They also committed to advancing “gender equality and empowerment of women through tourism policies and initiatives”.

The final outcome document said that paras 1 to 3 and 6 to 36 “have been unanimously agreed to by all G20 delegations”. However, regarding paragraphs 4 and 5, only the chair’s summary was released. Paragraphs 4 and 5 were taken from the Bali Declaration and called for an immediate end to the Ukraine conflict.

Environment and Climate Ministers’ Meeting

The July meeting in Chennai followed the adoption of an Outcome document, the Chennai High Level Principles for a Sustainable and Resilient Blue/Ocean-based Economy. But, expectations from leading economies for a push for stronger climate action remained futile as there was no agreement on any language that signalled enhanced action.

The ministerial meeting remained divided on the most crucial issues, including raising emission reduction targets and attaining the global peak of emissions by 2025. While developed countries pressed for the enhancement of mitigation targets from everyone, the developing countries in the group emphasised on delivery of the unfulfilled promises related to finance and technology and urged the developed countries to do more, playing out a familiar divide.

Health Ministers’ Meeting

In an August meeting in Gandhinagar, there was consensus on setting up a research and manufacturing network for vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, along with a platform for making open-source, interoperable digital solutions readily available.

It also resulted in a 25-point outcome document and the chair’s summary. The Global Initiative Digital Health — a platform for sharing digital goods and knowledge — was also launched. It will have four pillars: investment tracker, an ask tracker to track technologies the countries need, a library of available digital tools, and a platform for knowledge-sharing to implement these technologies at scale.

Agreement was not reached only in one paragraph of the documents on the Russia-Ukraine war. Russia rejected its inclusion, contending that it does not conform to the G20 mandate. China also stated that G20 is not the right platform to address security issues and opposed the inclusion of geopolitical-related content.

Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting

In August, the Jaipur meeting on Trade and Investment led to an outcome document and the Chair’s summary. They called for measures to promote digitalisation of trade documents, a generic mapping framework for global value chains (GVCs) and a “Jaipur Call for Action” to enhance the access of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to information. Russia and China objected to mentions of the Ukraine War and the need to incorporate it at that particular meeting, respectively.

The G20 member countries deliberated on five priority areas — trade for growth and prosperity, trade and resilient global value chain, integrating MSMEs in global trade, logistics for trade and World Trade Organisation (WTO) reform. The ministers reaffirmed their commitment to conduct discussions with a view to having a fully and well-functioning Dispute Settlement System accessible to all members by 2024.

Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting

Russia dissociated itself from three paragraphs of the ‘Outcome document & chair’s summary of the G20 agriculture ministers’ meeting in June that was held in Hyderabad. Those paragraphs mentioned the Ukraine war and the Black Sea Grain Initiative, while China stated that the meeting outcome should not include any reference to the Ukraine crisis.

However, the ministers reiterated their “commitment to food security and nutrition for all, through the development of inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agriculture and food systems.” They also agreed on Seven Deccan High-Level Principles on Food Security and Nutrition 2023 and expressed their commitment to champion these High-Level Principles.