India, the incoming president of the Group of Twenty (G-20), has announced that it will invite the UAE as one of the ‘guest countries’ to the G-20 summit in New Delhi on September 9-10.
This is the first of a series of announcements being made by India preparatory to its assumption of the G-20 presidency on December 1, 2022. India’s presidency will last until November 30 next year.
The G-20 is made up of 19 countries plus the EU. Its member countries are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK and the US.
“India, as G-20 presidency, will be inviting Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the UAE as guest countries to the New Delhi Summit.”
India will also invite the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Asian Development Bank as guest international organisations. “In addition to G-20 members, there has been a tradition of the G-20 presidency inviting some guest countries and international organisations to its G-20 meetings and summit,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said. “Under its presidency, India is expected to host over 200 meetings related to G-20 across the country, beginning December 2022.”
Collectively, the G-20 accounts for 85 per cent of global GDP, 75pc of international trade and two-thirds of the world population, making it ‘the premier forum for international economic co-operation.”
The summit will be a major international event in the next calendar year. In addition to 20 of the group’s members, nine guest countries of its choice and three international organisations, the Indian presidency hopes to have at the summit the following regular invitees.
These are the UN, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Health Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, the International Labour Organisation, the Financial Stability Board and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.