India’s Prime Minister Modi achieves symbolic victory by securing the G20 summit hosting gig in the country’s 75th year of independence

• India, which was supposed to host the summit in 2021, exchanged hosting duties with Italy, which was slated to host in 2022.
  
• The move is an important boost for Brand Modi as 2022 is India’s 75th year of independence and it is hosting the annual grouping of 19 nations for the first time.
  
• The exchange of hosting duties between India and Italy indicates a strengthening of bilateral ties, which hit the skids in the earlier part of the decade after two Italian marines killed two Indian fishermen off the coast of the state of Kerala.

Brand Modi got a big boost this weekend as India’s Prime Minister exchanged hosting duties for the G20 summit in 2022 with Italy, which agreed to host the summit in 2021 instead.

The move is an important symbolic victory for Narendra Modi as 2022 is India’s 75th year of independence and it is hosting the annual grouping of 19 nations, which are said to be the world’s most influential countries, for the first time.

The announcement also caps what seems to be a fairly successful weekend for India from a diplomatic angle at the G20 summit in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires. Notable highlights of the weekend include Modi’s trilateral meetings on the sidelines with the heads of state of China and Russia as well as a the heads of Japan and US. Modi also presented a nine-point plan to stop “fugitive economic offenders” during the second session of the summit on 30 November.

Hosting the G20 summit will be an important culmination of India’s attempt to wield more influence globally as the world’s fastest growing large economy.

In 2022, India will be two years from surpassing China as the world’s most populous nation, according to UN estimates. The government also plans to be a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and send a manned mission to moon by the time it turns 75.

Political goodwill

Symbolic gestures will be of particular importance to the upcoming general elections in 2019, as India’s political parties make promises, build goodwill and encourage voter optimism and disillusionment in equal measure in a bid to win.

For its part, the Modi administration achieved another important symbolic victory with the inauguration of India’s Statue of Unity on 31 October, the world’s tallest statue, regardless of the subsequent controversy over its cost.

The exchange of hosting duties between India and Italy indicates the strengthening of bilateral ties, which hit the skids in the earlier part of the decade after two Italian marines, who were in charge of preventing pirate attacks on a commercial ship, killed two Indian fishermen off the coast of the state of Kerala. The case is currently being heard by an international arbitration tribunal.


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