- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The Group of Twenty (G20) outcome under India’s presidency, which it took over in December last year, will be unprecedented, veteran Indian diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said as he underlined that the international community sees India as one country that is up to the challenge of providing solutions to current global problems.
The G20 is the “most significant” international event India has hosted since its Independence, Shringla, the chief coordinator of India’s G20 presidency and a former foreign secretary of India, said in New York.
He addressed prominent members of the Indian-American and diaspora community on Tuesday (25) at the launch event of his biography ‘Not An Accidental Rise’.
Former US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster and consul general of India in New York Randhir Jaiswal were among the special guests at the event hosted by Jaipur Foot USA, a subsidiary of Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) located in Jaipur in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan.
During its presidency of G20, India is hosting over 200 meetings and related events in cities across the country that will culminate in a global Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi in September.
The summit will be attended by over 40 heads of state, heads of government and international organisations.
A G20 Leaders’ Declaration will be adopted at the conclusion of the New Delhi Summit, stating “Leaders’ commitment towards the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings.”
“I have no doubt that the summit that India will host and the outcome that we will deliver at the time of the G20 will be unprecedented,” Shringla, 61, said.
He said the world is currently facing difficult times where the only certainty is uncertainty.
“Many of our partners in the international community feel that if there is one country that is up to the challenge of providing solutions to global situations that have emerged today, it is India,” he said.
India will deliver in entirety to the international community’s expectations, in particular the Global South, of which “we are a part and have been a voice of,” he added.
Shringla, who served as the foreign secretary between 2020 and 2022, also highlighted that about 100 G20 meetings have already been hosted across India with each meeting witnessing rejuvenation of that particular city and region, urban transformation and beautification.
It witnessed involvement at the public and grassroots level of people who have never known what G20 is, but known this is something big for India and are happy to be a part of the effort, he said.
“Bringing G20 to the grassroots level through ‘Jan Bhagidari’ (people’s participation) has been a major objective and one that has been achieved quite well,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
