North India Statesman
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There is an eagerness around the world over the G-7 summit to be held in Kananaskis in Alberta province, Canada in 2025 next year. Top leaders of the world’s most powerful economies-America, France, Britain, Japan, Italy, Germany and hosts Canada-will participate in this high-level meeting which runs from 15 to 17 June. However, this time everyone’s eyes are on a country that has not been invited to attend this conference – that is India.
For the past six years, India, even though there is no permanent member of the G-7 group, has been continuously invited as a guest to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This invitation showed India’s growing importance on the global stage. In such a situation, not getting this time invitation is raising many political and diplomatic questions. Senior Congress party leader Jairam Ramesh has criticized the Central Government, calling it a “big diplomatic lapse”. He also revealed that this time heads of many other non-member countries like Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Ukraine and Australia have been invited, while not India.
Does India-Canada relations have this heat?
The bitter relationship between India and Canada for the last one and a half years is being considered as the main reason behind India not getting an invitation. In September 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of being a possible hand in the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, after which the relations between the two countries became tense. India had rejected these allegations outright and increased diplomatic deadlock between the two countries. Its impact was made by India temporarily suspended visa services for Canadian citizens and the expulsion of officials of the two countries. In such a situation, it is believed that Canada has deliberately kept India away this time in its hosting.
What is G-7 and how does it work?
The G-7 (Group of Seven) is an informal group of seven most developed and advanced economies in the world. This includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States. This group has a major impact on global trade and international financial system.
In the year 2000, this faction had a 40 per cent stake in the global GDP, which was a measure of its strength. However, due to the rapid growth of other emerging economies, especially China and India in the last few years, the share of G-7 countries has now come down to 28.43 per cent (as per data from the International Monetary Fund).
Travel of G-7: G6 to G8 and then back to G7
The G-7 was actually born in 1975 as the G-6. Then the group formed the group by America, France, Italy, Japan, Britain and West Germany. The main objective at that time was to solve the economic challenges arising out of the 1973 oil crisis. Canada also joined it in 1976 and became G7.
By the 1980s, the group began to include political and social issues in its agenda besides economic issues. In 1998, Russia also formally became part of this faction, making it known as G8. But after Russia captured Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014, Russia was suspended from this group, and it became G7 back.
The G-7 has no legal existence, nor any permanent office. It provides a platform to member countries where they can discuss shared concerns or issues. Its decisions are not legal binding, but historically their decisions have been greatly affected by globally. For example, this group played an important role in the formation of ‘Global Fund’ to fight diseases like malaria and AIDS in 2002. The G-7 also provides financial assistance to developing countries and has been taking important steps in dealing with issues like climate change.
The discussion on international peace and security, global economic stability, development, digital transition and various global challenges is prominent in the agenda of the summit this year. In such a situation, India’s absence is definitely giving a new signal for global diplomacy, which will be interesting to see in the future.
