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2023 G20 New Delhi summit
The 2023 G20 New Delhi summit was the eighteenth meeting of G20 (Group of Twenty). It was held in Bharat Mandapam International Exhibition-Convention Centre, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi on 9–10 September 2023. It was the first G20 summit held in India.
What is G20?
The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation and sustainable development.
Note: The G20 operates without a permanent secretariat or staff. The group’s chair rotates annually among the members and is selected from a different regional grouping of countries.
Background
Originally, India was scheduled to host the G20 summit in 2021 and Italy in 2022. At the 2018 G20 Buenos Aires summit in Argentina, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had requested Italy to host the summit in 2021 and allow India to host it in 2022, on the occasion of the 75th year of India’s independence. Italy agreed to let India host the G20 summit in 2022 in its place, owing to the momentum in bilateral ties. However, after a request made by Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, India exchanged its presidency of the G20 with Indonesia because Indonesia would also chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2023.
Presidency
The G20 New Delhi Summit is chaired by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. India’s presidency began on 1 December 2022, leading up to the summit in the third quarter of 2023. The presidency handover ceremony was held, in which the G20 Presidency gavel was transferred from Indonesian President Joko Widodo to Indian Prime Minister Modi at the close of the Bali summit. Indonesia held the presidency in 2022. Indian Prime Minister Modi formally handed over the G20 presidency to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the President of Brazil. India will continue to hold the position until 30 November 2023.
Participating Countries
- Argentina
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- India
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- South
- Korea
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- South Africa
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- United States
- European Union
- Bangladesh
- Comoros
- Egypt
- Mauritius
- Netherlands
- Nigeria
- Oman
- Singapore
- Spain
- United Arab Emirates
- Asian Development Bank
- International Monetary Fund
- International Labour Organization
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- United Nations
- World Bank
- World Health Organisation
- World Trade Organisation
- Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
- The African Union joined the G20 as a permanent member.
- A new organisation called the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) was launched, to promote the development and adoption of sustainable biofuels, and set relevant standards and certification.
- The New Delhi Leaders Declaration was adopted with consensus.
- A group of countries made a joint agreement to build a rail and shipping corridor linking India with the Middle East and Europe called the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. The group comprises India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Israel and the European Union.
- The 2023 summit in contrast to the previous year significantly resulted in no mention of the RussoUkrainian War in the final document.
- Host country: India
- Date: 9–10 September 2023
- Theme: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One Earth, One Family, One Future)
- Participants: G20 members, Invitee countries by Indian Government
- Chair: Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
- Budget allocated: Rs. 990 crore (120 million USD)
- Follows: 2022 G20 Bali summit
- Precedes: 2024 G20 Rio de Janeiro summit
- Host country: South Africa
- City: Johannesburg
- Participants: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa
- Invited bodies: African Union, Arab Maghreb Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, United Nations, ASEAN
- Chair: Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa)
Guests Countries
International Organization which participates
Conclusion:
2023 Summit at a glance
15th BRICS Summit
The 2023 BRICS summit was the fifteenth annual BRICS summit, an international relations conference attended by the heads of state or heads of government of the five member states: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also invited the leaders of 67 countries to the summit.
2023 Theme: ‘BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism.’
BRICS Expansion
The BRICS bloc of developing countries, comprising Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa, decided to expand their alliance to include Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Full membership will take effect on 1 January 2024.
Evolution
BRICS is a partnership of five leading emerging markets and developing countries, founded on historical bonds of friendship, solidarity and shared interests.Together, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Repubic of China and the Republic of South Africa represent over 42% of the global population, 30% of the world’s territory, 23% of GDP and 18% of global trade. In 2001, the British Economist Jim O’Neill coined the term BRIC to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The grouping was formalized during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers in 2006. South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
Controversies behind BRICS 2023 summit
Participation of Vladimir Putin In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. South Africa is required as an ICC signatory to honour the warrant. But in May 2023, South Africa government, granted all invited leaders diplomatic immunity. It was unclear whether this would prevent Putin from being arrested if he attended. According to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, it was standard practice in South Africa to confer such immunity to attendees of international conferences held in the country. By early June 2023, moving the summit to China was being considered to avoid the issue. In mid-July 2023, Vladimir Putin announced that he would not attend the summit “by mutual agreement” and would instead be sending Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Nonattendance by Xi Jinping
Despite meeting with host Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping unexpectedly did not attend the BRICS business forum where he had been scheduled to speak and instead his speech was read out by Minister of Commerce of China Wang Wentao.
BRICS 2023
Aditya L1: India’s mission to study the Sun
ISRO’s spacecraft succesfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on 02 Sept 2023. With this, India inched one step closer for the completion of its maiden Solar expedition. ISRO’s trusted PSLV carried the Aditya L1 mission on a 125-day voyage to the Sun. The Aditya L1 spacecraft will stay in Earth’s orbit for sixteen days. After four months of journey, the satellite will be placed on the L1 point in the halo orbit around the Sun. Aditya L1 is designed to provide remote observations of the Solar corona and conduct in-situ observations of the Solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth.
Mission Details
Aditya-L1 is a satellite dedicated to the comprehensive study of the Sun. It has 7 distinct payloads developed, all developed indigenously. Five by ISRO and two by Indian academic institutes in collaboration with ISRO. Aditya in Sanskrit means the Sun. L1 here refers to Lagrange Point 1 of the Sun-Earth system. For common understanding, L1 is a location in space where the gravitational forces of two celestial bodies, such as the Sun and Earth, are in equilibrium. This allows an object placed there to remain relatively stable with respect to both celestial bodies.
Following its launch on September 2, 2023, Aditya-L1 stays Earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it undergoes 5 maneuvres to gain the necessary velocity for its journey. Subsequently, Aditya-L1 undergoes a Trans-Lagrangian1 insertion maneuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange point. Upon arrival at the L1 point, another maneuvre binds Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the Earth and the Sun. The satellite spends its whole mission life orbiting around L1 in an irregularly shaped orbit in a plane roughly perpendicular to the line joining the Earth and the Sun.
The strategic placement at the L1 Lagrange point ensures that Aditya-L1 can maintain a constant, uninterrupted view of the Sun. This location also allows the satellite to access solar radiation and magnetic storms before they are influenced by Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere. Additionally, the L1 point’s gravitational stability minimizes the need for frequent orbital maintenance efforts, optimizing the satellite’s operational efficiency.
Quick Facts:
Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth, directed towards the Sun, which is about 1% of the Earth-Sun distance. The Sun is a giant sphere of gas and Aditya-L1 would study the outer atmosphere of the Sun. Aditya-L1 will neither land on the Sun nor approach the Sun any closer.
Mission Objective:
The suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide most crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particle and fields etc.
Payloads:
The instruments of Aditya-L1 are tuned to observe the solar atmosphere mainly the chromosphere and corona. In-situ instruments will observe the local environment at L1. There are total seven payloads on-board with four of them carrying out remote sensing of the Sun and three of them carrying in-situ observation
Nigar Shaji:
Scientist behind ADITYA L1 Mission Hailing from the greens of Sengottai, Tamil Nadu, Nigar Shaji is a graduate of the Madurai Kamaraj University. She joined ISRO in 1987 and currently resides in Bengaluru. Before joining the maiden solar mission, Shaji was transferred to UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru where she worked in different verticals building her expertise. She was also involved in the design of India’s remote sensing, communication and interplanetary satellites in different capacities.
