In diplomacy especially, timing matters. India’s presidency of the G20 came at a time when the world was undergoing a geo-political churn. The Russia-Ukraine war had impacted the global economy after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. The economic shock of these twin events had a deep impact on developing and under-developed countries — the war came at a time when these countries were just trying to get back on their feet with the post-pandemic economic recovery. As New Delhi took over the presidency in December last year, it seized the opportunity to bring together the large group of about 120 countries that were bearing the brunt of the war. The Voice of Global South summit brought in the views from these countries, and India promised to place their ideas and concerns on the G20 high table.
India’s presidency was preceded and succeeded by that of other members of the Global South — Indonesia was the 2022 G20 chair, and Brazil was going to be next year’s chair in 2024, followed by South Africa in 2025. The fact that for four successive years, members of the Global South are chairing the G20 offered another opportunity. And, then India moved the proposal to invite the African Union as the 21st member of the grouping. Including 55 countries in all, the AU comprises almost half of the Global South. This was in sync with New Delhi’s outreach to Africa since 2008 — in 2015, India hosted the India-Africa Forum summit which was attended by 40 leaders from the African continent. In the last few years, India has committed more diplomatic resources towards Africa — it has announced 18 new embassies, which will take the number from 39 to 47 in the continent. The proposal had important backers in the US, France and China — an almost bipartisan consensus emerged across the geopolitical aisle.
