Being Able to Host Summit Shows India's Growth, Says Harsh Vardhan Shringla at News18 G20 Town Hall

Chief Coordinator of India’s G20 Presidency, Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Tuesday said that the fact that the country can host this mega summit, shows how far it has come in terms of confidence in itself.

Speaking at CNN-News18’s G20 Town Hall, Shringla added that in the last 10 years, the respect with which India is received on any global platform has grown tremendously.

“India has come a long way,” Shringla said, adding, that the “fact that we are able to host this mega event shows a sense of confidence in the country.”

“We are hosting the presidents and prime ministers of the most influential countries in the world, and this shows a sense of growing capabilities of the country,” Shringla said.

Speaking on how India’s perception has changed globally, Shringla said, that “one discernable change that is seen in the recent years is the respect with which India is received.”

“Indians today are far more respected in any part of the world then they were 10 years ago and it comes because we have achieved what we have,” Shringla highlighted.

Speaking about India’s economic journey, Shringla said, “ten years ago, we were the 10th largest economy, today we are fifth, and in a few years we will be the third largest one in the world.”

He also said that India was also the fastest growing economy, with the largest working population and a younger demography.

“In many senses we are the cutting-edge of innovation and technology and all of this has earned us respect,” Shringla added.

Commenting on India’s current foreign policy, Shringla said “we have engaged with the world and have consciously created a foreign policy that is based on human-centric globalization as opposed to GDP-centric one.”

Speaking on a happy memory associated with the G20 under India’s presidency, he said that all the initial events of the summit were held in northeastern states and that this was “very remarkable.”

“Whether Mizoram, or Manipur, G20 events were held in all of these capitals, and everyone came up to expectations and successfully conducted these,” he said.

There was huge participation and eagerness seen in the public, Shringla said, adding that the people of northeast took this as an opportunity and beautifully utilized it.

As the much-anticipated G20 Summit is just around the corner, CNN-News18’s ‘G20 Town Hall,’highlighed India’s growing influence in geopolitics and will bring leaders and policy makers to discuss the country’s role in the current global arena on Tuesday evening.

G20 IN NEW DELHI

The G20 Leaders’ Summit will be held on September 9-10 at the Bharat Mandapam convention centre, previously Pragati Maidan, and some other vital locations.

India assumed the G20 presidency on December 1, 2022, and since then a large number of meetings under different tracks of the bloc have been hosted across the country, which will culminate in the September 9-10 Summit in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the Business 20 (B20) Summit India 2023, the official G20 dialogue forum with the global business community, in Delhi on Sunday.

The group of G20 countries comprises 19 nations including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, United Kingdom, United States and the European Union.