PM Modi avers G20 more important due to UN's failure; Key takeaways from his speech

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Bali on Monday to take part in the G20 Summit of the world's major economies and hold bilateral meetings, the Indian diaspora gathered in the streets of Indonesia to greet him. "During the Bali Summit, I will have extensive discussions with other G20 Leaders on key issues of global concern, such as reviving global growth, food & energy security, environment, health, and digital transformation," said PM Modi, before flying to Bali. "I will also extend my personal invitation to G20 Members and other invitees to our G20 Summit next year," he said.

On the sidelines of the G20 Summit, PM Modi met with leaders of several other participating countries, and reviewed the progress in India’s bilateral relations with them. 

Indonesia will be handing over the G20 presidency to India, and the summit will be held in India next year. At the opening session of the G20 summit, PM Modi spoke about Food and Energy Security. In his speech, PM Modi said that the world is in chaos, the global supply chain is in ruins, highlighting that the poor people in all nations are suffering. 

PM Modi says UN has failed

PM Modi said that the UN has been unable to resolve the chaos and subtly hinted that the UN has failed in upholding its mandate. He added that all nations have failed to reform the UN. "There is a crisis of essentials, essential goods all over the world. The challenge for the poor citizens of every country is more severe. Everyday life was already a struggle for them. They do not have the financial capacity to deal with the double whammy. Due to the double whammy, they lack the financial capacity to handle it. We should also not hesitate to acknowledge that multilateral institutions such as the UN have been unsuccessful on these issues. And we have all failed to make suitable reforms in them," PM Modi said, during the opening session of the summit, referring to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war. 

G20 has become more important due to UN's failure, says PM Modi

PM Modi argued that due to the UN's failure, the G20 has become an ever more important multilateral forum. PM Modi stressed the need to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Russia Ukraine war and claimed that diplomacy is important to reach a resolution. "I have repeatedly said that we have to find a way to return to the path of ceasefire and diplomacy in Ukraine. Over the past century, the Second World War wreaked havoc in the world. After that, the leaders of that time made a serious effort to take the path of peace. Now it’s our turn. The onus of creating a new world order for the post-COVID period lies on our shoulders," the PM said. He also highlighted the challenges India faced during the pandemic and how India overcame those challenges. 

PM Modi spoke about food and energy security 

PM Modi mentioned fertilizer shortage and pointed out how fertilizer shortage will lead to food insecurity. Russia is an important supplier of fertilizers and the war has impacted fertilizer supply in global markets. "Today’s fertilizer shortage is tomorrow’s food crisis, for which the world will not have a solution. We should build mutual agreement to maintain the supply chain of both manure and food grains stable and assured," the PM said. The final point of PM Modi's speech was energy security. He rejected the attempt to wall off Russian energy from the global energy market. "India’s energy-security is also important for global growth, as it is the world’s fastest growing economy. We must not promote any restrictions on the supply of energy and stability in the energy market should be ensured," he said.