DC Edit | Delhi Declaration India's finest hour in diplomacy
Deccan ChronicleIt was India’s finest hour in international affairs as it brought the most economically powerful nations of the world together in a consensus on diverse and divisive issues ranging from the Ukraine war to green initiatives to try and save the planet from global warming caused by climate change. But, in aiming for fundamental reforms in the way the world lives and consumes, this year’s G-20 summit has delivered a remarkable blueprint for renewable energy, especially innovation in green hydrogen as clean and clean energy, sustainable development, reforms in multilateral development banks and a digital public infrastructure to deliver services to large societies. It was outside the formal G-20 meeting and through the hard negotiations behind the scenes that the US played its dynamic card towards proposing an alternative to China’s Belt & Road initiative in promising port and rail connectivity from India through the Middle East and on to Europe. The role that India’s chief negotiators like the sherpa Amitabh Kant and G-20 coordinator Harsh Vardhan Shringla and their teams played was as important as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s contribution with his brand of active statecraft in winning over leaders for the consensus with his personal rapport helping shape the approach at a particularly difficult time.