By garnering consensus on geo-political paragraphs of the New Delhi Leaders Declaration of the recently concluded G20 Summit, India has proven that it is a strong multilateral negotiator, says the G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant. Interacting with media in New Delhi, the Sherpa said “to get a 100 per cent consensus document without any reservation, any bracket, any chair summary is unprecedented in the history of multilateral forums”.
Kant said it took more than 200 hours of non-stop negotiations by a team of Indian diplomats to deliver a consensus on the G20 Declaration that was adopted at the Leaders' Summit. Giving an insight into the process, he said “since none of the Ministerial meetings had resulted in consensus and all of them had footnotes, the international media was initially quite skeptical about the outcome of the New Delhi Summit”.
The Sherpa said “the negotiations held in Manesar, about 60 kms from New Delhi were intense. Our stance from the beginning was that a divided G20 was unacceptable”. He added that the run up to the adoption had seen many ups and downs because Russia as well as G7 wanted several things to be included. “But the Sherpas of developing countries such as Brazil, South Africa and later Indonesia worked closely with India in driving a consensus. We were later joined by Sherpas of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Argentina, Turkey all joined to arrive at consensus” he added.
“During this time, we produced multiple drafts, taking into account the views of all G20 and invitee countries. We remained steadfast in our commitment to make the NDLD inclusive, ambitious, decisive and action-oriented” Kant said.
The Sherpa further said India’s Presidency has demonstrated that G20 can be the most powerful multilateral forum in the world, more powerful than even the United Nations. G20 nations represent 65% of world’s population and account for 85% of the world’s GDP.
Key takeaways
Amitabh Kant further said the G20 Leaders’ Declaration has the lasting imprint of PM Narendra Modi's visionary worldview—women-led development, human-centric progress, LiFE, inclusivity, and action-oriented outcomes. The declaration as well as the admission of the African Union have positioned India as the champion of the Global South.
The Sherpa also informed that India’s G20 Presidency has witnessed a total of 112 outcomes, which is more than double the outcomes during Indonesia’s presidency. While Indonesia had 50 outcomes in 2022 and Italy 65 outcomes in 2021, the outcomes during earlier Presidencies ranged between 20 -30.
India’s presidency has been special
The Sherpa also said that India’s G20 Presidency will be remembered for the diversity it presented. “Our G20 Presidency was not contained within the four walls of meeting rooms. The rich cultural diversity of India was infused into the Presidency as over 220 meeting were held in 60 cities covering every state and union territory.”
