The G20 (Group of 20) Summit 2019 was held at the International Exhibition Center, Osaka, Japan on June 28-29, 2019. It was the 14th meeting of the G20. The 2018 G20 Summit was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the 2020 G20 Summit will be held in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Participants
- Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Republic of South Africa, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America and European Union.
- Guests were invited from other countries and International Organizations from Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, VietNam, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) President (Thailand), African Union (AU) President (Egypt), Chile – Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) President, Senegal (NEPAD-New Partnership for Africa’s Development President), United Nations (UN), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, World Trade Organization (WTO), International Labour Organization (ILO), Financial Stability Board (FSB), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Health Organization (WHO).
PM Modi in Japan
On June 27, 2019, PM Narendra Modi arrived at Kansai International Airport in Osaka to attend the G20 Summit 2019. It was his sixth G20 Summit. He met members of the Indian community in Kobe, Japan.
Suresh Prabhu attended G20 Sherpa meet in Japan
Prime Minister’s sherpa for the G20 summit Suresh Prabhu attended G20 Sherpa meeting at Osaka in Japan to prepare for Prime Minister’s Summit with G-20 leaders. Global issues were discussed at intense negotiations and India’s priorities were highlighted for global good.
Ahmedabad and Kobe exchanged Letter of Internet for Sister City Partnership
Authorities from the Japanese city of Kobe exchanged a Letter of Intent (LoI) with their counterparts in Ahmedabad, Gujarat for a sister city partnership. It will help to enhance economic relationships between the two vibrant cities as well as the two countries. In November 2016, Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe had inked a sister-state relationship MoU (memorandum of Understanding) for Gujarat and Hyogo prefecture in order to promote mutual cooperation between Gujarat and Hyogo in the fields of academics, business, cultural cooperation, disaster management and environmental protection.
Modi, Trump, Abe held 2nd ‘JAI’ trilateral meet
Modi, Trump, Abe held 2nd Japan-America-India (JAI) trilateral talks in Osaka, Japan. PM discussed on the Indo-Pacific region to improve connectivity and infrastructure development with US President Donald Trump and Japanese premier Shinzo Abe.
PM’s meeting with BRICS Nations
- Speaking at the informal BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) leaders’ meeting in Osaka, Modi said that terrorism is the biggest threat to humanity and he called upon everyone to stop all the mediums of support to terrorism and racism.
- Importance was sought to the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) as a mechanism to forestall short-term balance of payment pressures in member countries.
- Support was expressed to the Brazilian BRICS Chairshipin 2019 and 11th BRICS Summit to be held in Brasilia in November 2019.
RIC Trilateral Meet
- At the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral on the sidelines of the G20 summit, President of China, Xi Jinping urged the 3 countries in the presence of PM and President of Russia, Vladimir putin to expand cooperation in 5G network, high technology, connectivity, energy and other areas.
- In a joint communique of the 16th Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China, they strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
“Osaka Track”
India, South Africa, and Indonesia boycotted the “Osaka Track” on the “digital economy” as it overtly undermined “multilateral” principles of consensus-based decisions in global trade negotiations, and denied “policy space” for digital-industrialisation in developing countries. “Osaka Track” is a framework to promote cross-border data flow with enhanced protections, launched at the G20 summit in Japan.
Other Highlights
- PM Modi discussed about India’s traditional healing measures, Yoga and his flagship Ayushman Bharat health scheme.
- G20 countries were invited to join global coalition on disaster resilience named ‘International Coalition on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure’.
- PM Modi outlined 5 I vision in G-20 meet at Osaka to maximize digital technology for social benefit. The 5 ‘I’s (5I Vision) are — Inclusiveness, Indigenisation, Innovation, Investment in infrastructure & International cooperation.
- Over the next five years, India aims to become a 5 trillion dollar economy and setting up of 50,000 start-ups in 5 years was the goal.
- India is also planning to run its first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad with Japan’s help.
Meeting with Delegations
- PM Modi met Japanese Counterpart Shinzo Abe where they discussed on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. Discussion was made to strengthen the collaboration in skill development and increase bilateral technical exchanges.
- PM met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discussed ways to deepen cooperation in various areas, including trade and investment, energy security and counter-terrorism.
- PM met South Korean President Moon Jae-in and discussed ways to enhance trade, economic and people-to-people relations. They expressed mutual desire to synergise India’s Act East Policy with South Korea’s New Southern Policy.
- He met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and discussed ways to deepen the Indo-German relations and enhance cooperation in areas like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
- India and Indonesia set an ambitious $50 billion target for bilateral trade by 2025 as PM and President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo discussed ways to deepen cooperation in a number of key areas including economy, defence and maritime security.
- PM met Brazil President, Jair Bolsonaro and held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral relationship, especially cooperation in trade & investment, agriculture and bio-fuels in the context of climate change.
- He met Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and held talks on counter-terrorism, defence and trade & investment.
- PM held talks with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and discussed a wide range of issues including Indo-Pacific.
About Japan:
♦ Capital: Tokyo
♦ Currency: Japanese Yen