Must maintain momentum on policy guidance in G20 Delhi declaration: CEA

Strengthening multilateral development banks for the 21st century

The momentum must be maintained on the policy guidance in the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration (NDLD) at the G20 Summit because it addresses multi-year issues, a collection of essays titled Re-examining Narratives by the office of the chief economic advisor has said. It said the unanimous adoption of the Declaration marked a significant milestone for the G20 as well as global multilateralism.

Talking about India’s G20 presidency, the document, released on Thursday, said it put in place a clear, ambitious, and pragmatic agenda, ensuring inclusivity and striving towards breaking institutional silos, which elicited cooperation from member countries despite geopolitical differences. It also said during India’s presidency, the willingness of governments to cooperate despite global conflicts in the spirit of preserving multilateralism and delivering timely and effective solutions to global problems became evident. “The consensus on the geopolitical language in the NDLD was of key significance in this regard.”
 

One of the big challenges, however, the document said, was identifying issues that resonate with all G20 members and that posed a unique challenge in a multi-polar world with growing divergences.
 

The essay on Indian presidency noted the G20 outcomes on the multilateral development bank (MDB) agenda had provided significant momentum to the efforts related to reforms within the MDB ecosystem. Strengthening MDBs, the document said, can contribute to countries of Global South — which are the major clientele of MDBs — receiving more multilateral assistance, and speeding up and simplifying the processes so that client countries can have faster access to MDB finance.
 

Stressing the key achievements, the document said India’s G20 presidency had laid the groundwork for formulating a globally consistent and coordinated policy and regulatory framework for crypto assets by adding new dimensions to the discussions and influencing standard-setting bodies at a conceptual stage. It said earlier the focus of the G20 discussions was on potential risks associated with crypto assets and was limited to addressing concerns related to financial stability and integrity. 

India passed on the presidency of the G20 to Brazil on December 1. The Brazilian presidency has indicated its key focus areas will be social inclusion, the fight against hunger, energy transition, sustainable development, and reform of global governance institutions.

The document said India joining Brazil and South Africa as the G20 troika for 2024 set the stage for effective collaboration among the three major emerging market and developing economies. It said this would ensure that the G20 narrative could maintain the spirit of inclusiveness even as the agenda evolved to meet the needs of a dynamic global economy.