India's G20 Presidency - Foundation Office Japan / Regional Economic Programme Asia (SOPAS)
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Country Reports
India's G20 Presidency
by
Elias Marini Schäfer
A Review
India's G20 Presidency is coming to an end. The climax was the G20 summit, which took place on 9 and 10 September and turned the world's attention to the subcontinent. Surprisingly for many observers, Prime Minister Modi announced a diplomatically hard-fought final declaration on the very first day of the G20 summit. The most significant news surrounding the G20 summit came with the expansion of the G20 into a G21 with the admission of the African Union as a member. Another positive was the signing of a declaration of intent on the so-called India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which is seen by many observers as a viable alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative. But apart from many positive but also negative news around the G20 summit and host India, it also revealed a lot about the domestic and foreign policy ambitions and concerns of the world's most populous country. The following G20 review looks at how India's current domestic and foreign policies are merging, something that has arguably never been more apparent than during this year's G20 presidency.