New Delhi: The two-day long G20 Summit which was held at the Bharat Mandapam in Delhi came to an end on Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over the gavel of the G20 presidency to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and called for peace.
On the second day of the Summit, the world leaders paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Delhi’s Rajghat and PM Modi held bilateral meetings with several of them.
Here’s what happened on Day 2 of G20 Summit:
The events of the day started with leaders of the G20 forum, including US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, joining PM Modi at Delhi’s Rajghat to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. The leaders laid floral wreaths and Mahatma Gandhi’s samidhi and signed on the ‘peace wall’ at the ‘Leaders’ Lounge’.
PM Modi welcomed the dignitaries with an ‘angvastram’ or stole. Later, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that “Gandhi Ji’s timeless ideals guide our collective vision for a harmonious, inclusive and prosperous global future” as the G20 countries converge for the Summit in Delhi. The Prime Minister added, “The ideals of Mahatma Gandhi reverberate globally.”
PM Modi addressed the third and final session of the summit titled ‘One Future’ where he stressed the need to “look beyond the idea of a global village and make the vision of a global family a reality”. He also pushed for the expansion of the UN Security Council and reforms in all global institutions to reflect the world’s “new realities”.
Comparing the number of members at the time of establishing the UN (51) to now (around 200), PM Modi said the number of permanent members in the UNSC remains unchanged.
“The world has since changed a lot in every aspect. Be it transport, communication, health and education, every sector has been transformed. These new realities should be reflected in our new global structure,” said the Prime Minister. The UNSC has five permanent members–the US, China, France, Britain and Russia.
PM Modi also held meetings with French President Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the leaders of Comoros, Turkey, UAE, South Korea, EU/EC, Brazil, Nigeria apart from a pull-aside meeting with Canadian President Justin Trudeau.
Following the meeting with Emmanuel Macron, India and France released a joint statement where it said the two leaders called for early finalisation of the Defence Industrial Roadmap.
As the G20 Summit came to a close, India’s Sherpa Amitabh Kant said it took over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations by a team of Indian diplomats to deliver a consensus on the New Delhi Declaration that was adopted on Saturday.
He said the team of diplomats held 300 bilateral meetings and circulated 15 drafts with their counterparts on the contentious Ukraine conflict to drive home a consensus that was clinched on the first day of the G20 Summit.
“The most complex part of the entire G20 was to bring consensus on the geopolitical paras (Russia-Ukraine). This was done over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings, 15 drafts,” Amitabh Kant was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.
Making his closing remarks for the G20 Summit, PM Modi proposed a virtual summit by November to take stock of initiatives taken during India’s presidency of the forum. He said India’s presidency of the G20 would officially continue till November 30, after which Brazil will take over.
“It is my proposal that we hold another session of the G20 virtually in November- end. In that session, we can review the issues that have been agreed upon during this summit. Our teams will share the details of it with all of view. I hope all of you will join this (session),” said PM Modi while addressing the leaders.
PM Modi handed over the gavel of the G20 presidency to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and said India has “unwavering faith” that Brazil will lead with “dedication, vision and will further global unity as well as prosperity”.
Earlier, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, whose country held the G20 Summit in 2022, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gave tree samplings to PM Modi during the third session.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva said the priorities of his country’s G20 presidency would be “social inclusion and fight against hunger, energy transition and sustainable development, reform of global governance institutions”.
He also revealed the motto of the Brazilian presidency — ‘Building a fair world and a sustainable planet’. Brazil will formally assume the G20 Presidency on December 1 this year.
