The grouping leaders of G20 announced recently that India will now host the Group of 20 Summit in 2023, a year later than what was decided earlier. India was set to host the summit in 2022 which was also coinciding with the 75th anniversary of Indian independence. India was earlier slated to host the summit in 2022 with the Osaka declaration of the G20 stating last year that “we look forward to meeting again in Saudi Arabia in 2020, in Italy in 2021 and India in 2022”. “We thank Saudi Arabia for hosting a successful Riyadh Summit and its contribution to the G20 process. We look forward to our next meetings in Italy in 2021, Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024,” the G20 Riyadh Summit Leaders Declaration said. This will be the first such summit of the grouping to take place in India since its formation after the 2008 financial crisis.

Postponing the presidency by a year will also give more time to India to emerge from the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare better for the summit, another source from a think-tank said. The G20 includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.

Speaking at the G20 summit that time, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “It’s India’s 75th Independence Day in 2022 & we had requested Italy if we can get ’22 instead of ’21 (for hosting G20 summit). They accepted our request, others accepted it too. I’m grateful & I invite leadership from across the world to come to India in 2022”. Italy and India had swapped the year for hosting G20 summit. In Asia, South Korea hosted G20 in 2010, followed by Turkey in 2015 and China in 2016 and next will be Indonesia.