- Wednesday, May 08, 2024
The decision of Chinese president Xi Jinping not to attend the G20 Summit was in fact a blessing in disguise, the president of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum said.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE just concluded G20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi wherein the communique reflected the success of Indian diplomacy, is a crowning moment for India and a big loss for China, the head of an India-centric American business advocacy and strategic group said on Tuesday (12).
“So basically, two things came out. One is that you have a single communique coming out, but more important is that India came out as the leader of the Global South. That also means that it was a loss for China because they did not send their president there,” Mukesh Aghi, the president of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum, told PTI in an interview.
“G20 is a crowning moment for India. Congratulations to the (Indian) leadership,” Aghi said, adding, “And to be honest, we were surprised when we heard that there was a communique coming out because we thought there would be no communique coming out (of G20).”
“They (Indian leadership) delivered, not just only on the messaging, but the process also. For the first time, we saw G20 where you had so many cities in India engaged in pre-G20 meetings. The whole country was involved, and all major cities were involved. That means you spruce up the city, you build the cities, making sure the guests have a positive impression about the city,” the businessperson said days after the conclusion of the historic G20 Summit in New Delhi.
“It led to the session, which when G20 came in, and I think to get the communique out in a fractured world shows the success of Indian diplomacy. It shows the success of the leadership of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. So, I would say it was a tremendous success from a global perspective,” Aghi said.
The decision of Chinese president Xi Jinping not to attend the G20 Summit was in fact a blessing in disguise, he felt.
“I would say that President Xi not coming in, basically created a vacuum where President Biden and Prime Minister Modi could drive their agenda much more freely and they were able to get a communique out,” he said.
India, which is an almost $4 trillion economy and will be $5 trillion in the next two years, is becoming an economic powerhouse, Aghi observed.
“But more importantly, India is a rising power and it’ll become one day a great power. I think the diplomatic skills, the execution of a flawless G20 sends the message that India has arrived on the scene and it is becoming a great power,” he said.
“And to be able to execute among 20 different leaders and also a kudos to India for getting Africa into G20. That sends a message that India is a voice for the Global South,” he asserted.
The success of the G20 summit reflects the leadership of the prime minister, he observed. “He (Modi) basically set up a G20 agenda, focusing on ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future. (HE) also basically brought in the developing countries to the process itself. So, it is not what I call a military might agenda or an economic might agenda; it is a compassionate agenda, trying to see how you can work with emerging countries to solve the issues from food to supply chain, from energy to technology itself. So, I think it was an agenda which basically focused on One Earth, One Family, One Future,” he said.
(PTI)
