EARLIER this month, India hosted, with gaudy fanfare, the 18th meeting of the G20. The outcome was an 83-paragraph declaration, which called for green development and inclusive growth, but broke no new ground. The declaration deplored the aggression against Ukraine but did not name Russia. Ukraine was irritated.
However, it was not the substance but the optics and pomp and show that appeared to have been the host’s top priority. India used the occasion to build its global stature, project itself as a leader of the Global South, and deepen inroads into the Muslim world.