Modi's G-20(24): A year-long opportunity for India

Heading G-20 will give India a foreign affairs year like it has never had in history. And changes around the world give Narendra Modi a lot of newly-opened strategic space to play with

The big G-20 summit in Bali that made more headlines with what happened on its sidelines—like that Trudeau-Xi encounter—is over. The baton has passed from Indonesia’s Joko Widodo to India’s Narendra Modi. It sets the stage for a never-before foreign affairs year for India.

Especially as India will be hosting so much of the world—accounting for 80 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and 75 per cent of world trade—under a leader who so revels in grand spectacle. L K Advani spoke brave words once, calling Mr Modi a good event manager, and has been paying for it