Global Summitry Season is Approaching

I was reminded from various sources that the Global Summitry season is fast approaching. First up the G7 in Hiroshima May 19-21st. Japan has broadened the advanced economy membership to include in this Summit some key members of the Global South such as Brazil, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. And there are others. Notwithstanding the invited guests, the G7 remains the redoubt of the advanced economy members. The Biden Administration has focused on the G7 as well as locus of democratic nations. It is what it is. 

It will be followed by the G20 Summit in New Delhi  - the second Global South host in a series of them that began with Indonesia. The G20 this year will take place on September 9-10th in New Delhi. The Global South hosting has consequences and I will return it in a moment. 

But Global Summitry does not end with the G7 and G20. In late November COP28 in the UAE will occur in late November and just before that APEC - Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation with 21 member countries and hosting a leaders summit in San Francisco on November 12th. The United States has carried forward APEC under the  theme,   “Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All,”. As described by a senior US official, APEC is “where we advance economic policies in the Asia-Pacific region to promote free, fair, and open trade and investment and advance inclusive and sustainable growth”.

As is evident from official statements these gatherings represent key concerted efforts by member states and in some instances wider civil society gatherings such as with the G20. in particular with the numerous engagement groups the G20 works to advance collaborative global governance policies.

Now pointing out the global governance focus of most of these gatherings, it warrants some underlining the goals of these summits, none more so than the G20. It is with dismay that there is a general lack of attention to these summits and their work. It leads to unrealistic assumptions about the work of these summits. I was surprised to read a piece by Abishur Prakash, a CEO of ‘The Geopolitical Business’ an international advisory under the headline in the SCMP : “Is India doomed to chair the most impotent G20 in modern   times?” focusing attention on nuclear weapons rivalry and the current possible spread.   Yes, the G20 does bring together the most economically significant states but presuming that India could: “Or India can deliver an ultimatum: G20 nations will ban trade with any country fuelling nuclear proliferation (that is, stationing nukes outside their borders or sharing them)” is misplaced. 

The G20 cannot escape the rising geopolitical  tensions but having said that it also is not immobilized either. The Summit is the culmination of a year’s long work of Ministerials, Task Forces and Working Groups that India has proudly announced include some 200 gatherings. Debt Management, climate action, food security work continues.