Today marks 365 days since India assumed the G-20 Presidency. It is a moment to reflect, recommit, and rejuvenate the spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, ‘One earth, one family, one future’.
As we undertook this responsibility last year, the global landscape grappled with multifaceted challenges: recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, looming climate threats, financial instability, and debt distress in developing nations, all amid declining multilateralism. In the midst of conflicts and competition, development cooperation suffered, impeding progress.
Assuming the G-20 Chair, India sought to offer the world an alternative to the status quo, a shift from a GDP-centric to a human-centric progress. India aimed to remind the world of what unites us, rather than what divides us. Finally, the global conversation had to evolve — the interests of the few had to give way to the aspirations of the many. This required a fundamental reform of multilateralism as we knew it.
