India Taking Center Stage

India Taking Center Stage

India’s G20 Presidency marked the culmination of the country’s ascension to the top table of global politics.

The theme of global togetherness dominated India’s G20 presidency, articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “One Earth, One Family, One Future.” Following the summit, Modi has taken pains to ensure that message remains front of mind for world leaders, using his inauguration address at the G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit in October to reiterate that “a divided world cannot provide solutions to the major challenges facing humanity.”

With a focus on fueling sustainable and inclusive economic growth, the G20 offered a chance for India to showcase its leadership in those areas in recent years and cement its emergence as a global political and economic powerhouse. In the words of Minister of External Affairs Dr. S Jaishankar: “The G20 has contributed to making India world-ready, and the world India-ready.”

A divided world cannot provide solutions to the major challenges facing humanity.

Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India

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Alongside its domestic transformation, driven by sweeping government initiatives including infrastructure investment, modernization, and energy transition, central to India’s rise to prominence has been its relationship with the US. As India’s largest trading partner, bilateral trade between the two countries reached a record $192 billion in 2022, growing tenfold since the year 2000. US President Joseph Biden’s meeting with Modi at the G20 was the third between the two leaders in just five months, emphasizing the importance both men place on what Biden has called “one of the defining relationships of the 21st century.”

It is a relationship anchored in shared values and which has blossomed in recent years to include cooperation across defense, technology, energy, and numerous other areas, facilitated by multilateral and bilateral dialogue mechanisms such as the Quad, the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, and an array of working groups. The US also supports India’s ambitions to join the UN Security Council as a permanent member. 

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This article was published 13 October 2023
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