World leadership at G-20 summit
Motaher Hossain :
The much-awaited G-20 summit was held in India. In addition to G-20 member countries, the interest of third world countries including Bangladesh is noticeable.
This is because the G-20 member-states have pledged to work together to solve their many fortnightly commercial, economic and social problems.
At the same time, the governments and heads of states of the G-20 member states who participated in the conference emphasized on effective initiatives to stop the Russia-Ukraine war in addition to dealing with the global terrorism and climate crisis.
The main theme of this conference is more important than that. Through this conference, India, on the one hand, made the debut of friendship, brotherhood, penetration of world leadership. On the other hand ‘world leadership’ became a symbol of unity.
This year’s theme is, “In consciousness, one world, one family, one future.” About 140 countries of the world, including the top leaders of more than 30 countries of the world including the members of the G-20, top officials of the European Union, invited guest countries and heads of 14 international organizations participated in the G-20 Summit.
G-20 member countries include – Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Britain, United States and European Union.
US President Joe Biden, Indian-origin British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are attending the conference.
Although not a member of G-20, Bangladesh is the only South Asian country to be invited to this 2-day summit. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu also attended as an ‘invite’.
This list also includes state leaders like Mark Rott of Netherlands, Abdel Fattah of Egypt, Pravind Jagannath of Mauritius, Haitham bin Tariq of Oman, Lee Sein Long of Singapore, Assumani of Comoros, Mohammed bin Zayed of United Arab Emirates.
The G-20 summit was being held at a time when the Russia-Ukraine war has exacerbated the economic crisis around the world.
Climate change, terrorism, various epidemics and the situation of discrimination caused by digital devices have also come up in the well-thought-out speeches of world leaders which was the expectation of the world.
On the occasion of this conference, New Delhi has been completely wrapped in a tight security blanket.
Top state leaders from all over the world returned to their respective countries after participating in a successful and beneficial conference.
On the eve of the conference, Narendra Modi wrote, India is determined to overcome divisions and sow seeds of cooperation towards a world where unity prevails despite differences.
In an editorial published in the country’s top daily, Modi wrote, India will reach the last frontier through this conference and no one in the world will be left behind.
In this, Modi called for human-centered progress through the G-20 summit, beyond geographical boundaries, languages and ideologies.
At the end of the conference, Narendra Modi proposed a virtual meeting to the G-20 member countries in November.
He said that the responsibility of G-20 presidency is in the hands of India till November.
That’s why he proposed a virtual meeting in November.
It is necessary to look into how effective the issues decided in this conference are. Modi also called for the ‘new reality’ to be reflected in the ‘new world’s infrastructure’.
In addition to this, he also demanded the reform of global organizations like the United Nations.
He concluded the speech by chanting the Sanskrit mantra ‘Svasti Astu Biswasya’.
The meaning of this proverb is that there should be hope and peace throughout the world.
The Delhi Declaration adopted on Saturday at the G-20 summit has a total of seven points on the Ukraine war.
However, all countries have been urged not to occupy any territory.
Narendra Modi said in an announcement on Saturday that the ‘G-20 Leaders’ Summit Declaration’ was adopted on the basis of the consensus of the allied countries on the first day of the conference.
There is disagreement among G-20 countries on the issue of Russia-Ukraine war.
Therefore, the announcement of a declaration based on the consensus of all countries is considered as a significant achievement for the conference.
Four paragraphs on ‘Earth, People, Peace and Prosperity’ had to be rewritten to make the 37-page declaration universal.
Every country has ratified it only after scrutinizing its every word. But in the end it was India’s diplomatic victory.
However, since the word ‘war in Ukraine’ is used instead of the phrase ‘war against Ukraine’ in the declaration, the source of the solution to the problem has come out, said those concerned.
On the other hand, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina emphasized on strengthening global solidarity and taking concerted efforts to deal with the global crisis at the G-20 summit. She made this call in her four-point recommendation at the summit on Saturday.
Hope this conference will be beneficial if all the member countries work together to implement the decisions taken in the G-20 conference and at the same time the recommendations given by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resolve the international crisis.
(The writer is General Secretary, Bangladesh Climate Change Journalists Forum).
