G-20 Leaders' Summit begins in India

By Diyar Guldogan

NEW DELHI (AA) - The 18th G-20 Leaders' Summit began Saturday in New Delhi under the theme of "One Earth, One Family, One Future."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed world leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as they arrived at the venue for the first day of the summit. The leaders posed for welcome photographs with Modi.

The two-day summit is being held at the newly inaugurated Pragati Maidan conference center at the Bharat Mandapam culture corridor, where a statue of Nataraja, the Hindu God of dance, as an important symbol of cosmic energy, creativity and power -- is located.

G-20 leaders, in the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, will exchange views in three sessions, hoping to make progress on trade, climate and other global problems.

The summit began with the "One Earth" session. Later, leaders will attend the "One Family" session.

Leaders will lay wreaths Sunday at international Indian icon Mahatma Gandhi's tomb in New Delhi before attending a tree-planting ceremony.

After the third session, "One Future," the leaders are expected to adopt the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, which is a commitment to priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings.

The G-20 is also close to an agreement on admitting the African Union, a bloc of 55 countries, as a member of the group.

At its core, the G-20 is an intergovernmental forum primarily concerned with economic issues made up of the world’s 20 largest economies -- 19 countries and the EU. It plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues.

The member states are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the UK and the US.

Besides the members, term president India invited the leaders of Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Egypt, Mauritius, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition to international organizations such as the UN, International Monetary Fund and World Bank, India also invited members of the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Asian Development Bank as guests.

The G-20 presidency will be assumed by Brazil in 2024 and South Africa in 2025.