On September 9 Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reading of the final declaration of the G-20 Summit was a political win for him and a diplomatic victory for India. The African Union was granted G-20 membership, and a sense of togetherness among the Global South was palpable.
However, there were fears that a joint communiqué would not be issued as the Russia-Ukraine war was ongoing and the divided interests of the G-20 members would affect it. But Mr. Modi made it happen — he softened the language from the Bali G-20 document criticising Russia, kept Ukraine out of the summit, skipped the issue of fossil fuels, read out the 83 paragraphs of the New Delhi Declaration, and symbolically handed over the gavel to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will now preside over the G-20.
Unfortunately, India missed a great opportunity to protect worker rights and advance the welfare of workers during the G-20 summit, despite the G-20’s Labour 20 (L20), a coalition of G20 leaders concerned about workers, holding two meetings in India.
