The G20 New Delhi Summit 2023 is historic and unique. For India, it was the biggest gathering of the world's powerful countries and therefore, special. What was especially noticeable was that India handled the entire process with aplomb.

Indonesia had a special role as the preceding chair. The Indonesian support to Indian endeavors and crisis management was acknowledged by the Indian sherpa. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s reassuring presence as a senior G20 leader wo spoke for the Global South provided camaraderie to Indian efforts. He will be missed at G20 summits.

India treated its theme of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or “One Earth, One Family, One Future” to make the G20 more inclusive than ever before.

It involved countries of the Global South in a consultative process and then invited nine guests with a preponderance of developing countries. By pursuing an agenda looking at the real developmental problems of the world the empathy of India's approach to the people of the world was clear. This was not a summit where India was trying to score points of over rivals but a summit where it was trying to repair the creaking multilateral system, restore its vitality and make it responsive to the requirements of the world's inhabitants.

For this, India had to work hard to prevent the rivalry of the Western countries with Russia and China from derailing the process and making it as ineffectual as the United Nations Security Council has become. Therefore, an alliance of the countries of the South within the G20 was initiated. This cohort ultimately brought the power of the Global South to bear upon the recalcitrant members of the G20.

India showed courage in trying to rebalance the G20 by bringing in the largest regional organization, the African Union, which represents 55 countries. Africa has been an invitee at G20. No presidency had ever risked altering the membership of the G20.

India took this on courageously and successfully. In fact, even before the G20 proceedings began, India announced a consensus on the admission of the AU as a permanent member of the G 20. President Assoumani of Comoros current AU chair was invited to take his seat at the high table.

This was an unforgettable moment for Africa and a memorable moment for India, in their long history of ‘Harambee’ cooperative relations.

As a former ambassador to the AU and a frequent proponent of this idea including in the Tribune, I was personally delighted.

Similar courage was shown in bravely navigating the leaders’ statement. Since there was no consensus at every ministerial meeting held under the G20 this year, it was widely assumed that there would be no common leader’s statement and a chairman’s summary would be undertaken.

This was the model being followed in most G20 meetings in India this year. This was a good tactic. No diplomatic capital was expended in banging one's head on consensual language at various meetings, and it was left to the final sherpas meeting before the summit where a consensus was hammered out.

The western countries and Russia and China all had serious red lines over the Ukraine issue. India was determined that since the Bali consensus no longer obtained, a new consensus would have to be built. This is where courageous diplomacy emerged. It was Indian diplomacy’s high point as it brought a fractious world together to agree to focus on what really mattered.

The cohort of the four successive chairmen from the Global South, Indonesia, India, Brazil and South Africa provided a critical mass for pushing forward a consensus document, which then was supported by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and others.

Interestingly, while the Ukraine paragraphs do not criticize Russia directly, they do mention the UN resolutions regarding Russia, the Bali consensus and the various transgressions in Ukraine. Without naming Russia, what India managed to do was hold others responsible for acts of territorial aggrandizement. This applies to China’s cartographic and other aggression among its neighbors; it applies to other conflicts underway. Therefore, it was a victory for India’s position on the Ukraine crisis.

The Group of Seven, Russia and China had to pull back as holding back the success of the Indian G20 would have backfired on them. Once this was done, there was no looking back as on all the developmental aspects and initiatives, a consensus already existed due to the hard work, of each of their groups,

India looks to give the G20 a direction which will make it responsive to what the world and the Global South particularly need. It wants that promises made should be fulfilled and there should be no swapping of unfulfilled promises. Just as the MDBs are responsible for debt stress, China cannot escape its responsibilities and needs to be responsive to these concerns.

The same applies to resilient supply chains, Sustainable Development Goals, climate finance and the improvement of the world through digital public infrastructure, public health, security, and many other initiatives which will make the world a better, greener and resilient place.

India rose above simple nation state issues and aimed to make the G20 responsive to global concerns in a cooperative and harmonious manner. India s consensus building skills are welcomed in a fractured world. India perhaps surprised many by being able to pull out a consensus which many did not expect. Least of all. analysts did not expect that it would happen on the first day of the summit itself. This meant that all the negotiators could enjoy President Murmu’s exquisite dinner with a relaxed mind rather than keep negotiating on the sidelines.

The final day of the summit, as a gentle drizzle arrived in Delhi, became a well-honed conclusive day where countries knew that they had stuck together and could go home with hopes and aspirations.

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The writer is former Indian ambassador to Germany, Indonesia, Ethiopia, ASEAN and the African Union.