INDIA JOINED G-20'S TROIKA WITH ITALY & INDONESIA
India recently joined the G20 Troika. The G20 Troika is made of Indonesia, India and Italy. The Troika is made of the current presidency, Indonesia; the previous presidency Italy and the incoming presidency which is India. Italy hosted the G20 summit during October 30-31 that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi where India had raised the issue of Afghanistan’s future following the takeover by the Taliban. Indonesia took over the G20 presidency. In the coming months, Indonesia will hold rounds of discussion at various levels among the members of the G20 before convening the G20 Leaders’ Summit scheduled for October 30-31, 2022. “As a Troika member, India will work closely with Indonesia and Italy to ensure consistency and continuity of the G20’s agenda.
About ‘Troika’: It refers to the top grouping within the G20 that consists of the current, previous and the incoming presidencies — Indonesia, Italy and India. As a Troika member, India will work closely with Indonesia and Italy to ensure consistency and continuity of the G20’s agenda. India will assume the G20 presidency on 1st December 2022 from Indonesia, and will convene the G20 Leaders’ Summit for the first time in India in 2023. Italy hosted the G20 summit during October 30-31, 2021 where India had raised the issue of Afghanistan’s future following the takeover by the Taliban. Indonesia took over the G20 presidency from 1st December, 2021 and in the coming months, Indonesia will hold rounds of discussion at various levels among the members of the G20 before convening the G20 Leaders’ Summit scheduled for October 30-31, 2022. Next year’s summit will be organised along the overall theme of “Recover Together, Recover Stronger”. The G20 operates without a permanent staff or secretariat. The chair of the group rotates annually among its members. The current chair establishes the secretariat temporarily. This secretariat organises meetings and coordinates the working of the group. Thus, there is a need for the Troika to help with the secretariat so that there is continuity in the works of G20.
WHO FORMS TROIKA?
In 2019, the G20 was hosted by Japan. In 2021, Italy has hosted the G20. In 2022, 2023 and 2024, it will be hosted by Indonesia, India and Brazil. Thus, the following countries formed the Troika in G20.
- 2020: Japan, Italy and Indonesia
- 2021: Italy, Indonesia and India
- 2022: Indonesia, India and Brazil
PM MODI ATTENDED 16TH G20 SUMMIT
Prime Minister Modi had attended the 16th G20 Summit which was scheduled to be held in Rome on October 30-31, 2021. He paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his first day of arrival in Rome and he also called on Pope Francis in the Vatican during his two-day visit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Rome and the Vatican City from October 29 to October 31, 2021, at the invitation of Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi.
In the recently concluded G20 summit, the leaders made a commitment to reach carbon neutrality by or around mid-century. They have adopted the Rome Declaration (the current presidency of G20 countries is being held by Italy). Earlier, the G20 Climate Risk Atlas was released which provides climate scenarios, information, data and future changes in climate across the G20 countries.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DECLARATION
- Roadmap for COP 26: It urged leaders of the world’s biggest economies to put their action plans to tackle the global climate change crisis. This is a significant step in the context of the upcoming UN climate conference (COP 26) in Glasgow, Scotland.
- Restricting Aid to Coal Based Plants: It included a pledge to halt financing of overseas coal-fired power generation by the end of this year (2021).
- PPP Model of Finance Mobilisation: Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) are the only way to achieve the trillions of dollars in annual investment needed to transition to clean, sustainable energy sources that will mitigate the warming of global temperatures.
- Declaration by India: Addressing Vaccine Inequality: Underlining the need to address vaccine inequity across the world, India is ready to produce over 5 billion vaccine doses by the end of next year (2022). India also emphasised on vaccine research, manufacturing and innovation.
- One Earth One Health: The vision of “One Earth One Health”, or the need for a collaborative approach in the international domain in the fight against the pandemic.
- Resilient Global Supply Chains: India highlighted the need for resilient global supply chains and invited G-20 countries to make India their partner in economic recovery and supply chain diversification.
- Support for Global Minimum Tax: India also lauded the G-20’s decision to come up with a 15-percent minimum corporate tax to make the global financial architecture “more just and fair”.
- Welcoming Indo-Pacific Strategy: India welcomed the European Union’s Indo-Pacific strategy and French leadership in it.
ASSOCIATED CONCERNS
- Half-Hearted Steps: The statement contained few concrete actions and made no reference to a specific 2050 date to achieve net-zero carbon emission. Moreover, the statement removed references in a previous draft to the target to “reduce emissions significantly”.
- No target for Phasing out Coal: It set no target for phasing out coal domestically, a clear nod to top carbon polluters China and India. For example, China has not set an end date for building domestic coal plants at home. Coal is still China’s main source of power generation, and both China and India have resisted attempts for a G-20 declaration on phasing out domestic coal consumption.
- No resolution on Vaccine Patent Waiver: It did not touch upon the dispute over vaccine patent waivers.
- Pressing India’s developmental Imperative: Climate negotiators from the US, EU and UK had made a number of visits to India over the past few months, pressing for India to update its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to include its target of 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
ABOUT G-20 (GROUP OF TWENTY)
It is an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union (EU), with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It does not have a permanent secretariat or Headquarters. The membership comprises a mix of the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies, representing about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product, 80% of global investment and over 75% of global trade.
Members: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU.
TEST YOURSELF
Q.1 India recently joined the G20 Troika. The current G20 Troika is made of which of the following three countries?
- Indonesia, India & Saudi Arabia
- Italy, Japan & Saudi Arabia
- Italy, Indonesia & India: ANSWER
- None of the above
Q.2 Which of the following countries hosted the G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting as it holds the presidency of G-20?
- Italy: ANSWER
- Saudi Arabia
- United Arab Emirates
- None of the following
Q.3 Consider the given statements & state which of the following is/are correct in the reference to the above mentioned passage?
- The G-20 summit is scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia in October, 2021. India is expected to hold the presidency of the G-20 in 2023.
- The leaders in the meeting promoted a science-based holistic One Health approach which is an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes.
- Only I follows
- Only II follows: ANSWER
- Both I & II follows
- None of the above
Q.4 Which of the following statements is not correct regarding the G 20?
- The G20 summits are attended by the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the member countries only.
- India never hosted any G20 summit.
- Its main aim is to eliminate poverty from the world: ANSWER
- Its meetings are held annually.
Q.5 Which of the following is the theme of the 15th G20 summit leader's summit recently held in November 2020?
- Shaping an Interconnected World
- Fighting poverty with rigidity
- Making the world together
- Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All: ANSWER
