Deepak Dwivedi
THE credibility of G7 – the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan – was at stake as its leaders met in Canada during the world’s worst crisis post-World War II. US President Donald Trump had left the summit mid-way as the leaders of the world’s most powerful economies struggled to agree on a way forward.
Ironically, they found India, an outsider to the group, central to any response that the G7 could come up with. Reaffirming the country’s stand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the G7 leaders to galvanise global action against terrorism, and underscored the need for strict action against those who “promote and support” it.
He called for attention to the Global South’s concerns and priorities, and was equally stern at warning the world against “double standards” in the global war against terrorism.
Centre of gravity
The G7 in its heydays was an extremely powerful grouping on account of its overwhelming share of the global GDP. In the 1980s, its share was almost 70 per cent, which by 2024 had come down to barely above 30 per cent.
The main reason for this is that the economic centre of gravity has shifted from the West to the East, led by China, but also because of countries like India.
The 2025 summit – from June 15 to 17 – was also attended by countries, like Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Australia, South Korea and Ukraine. Every partner country in this list is instrumental for G7’s global governance to provide tangible results.
India remains the strongest counterweight to China in the politics of the Global South. Having Brazil and South Africa along India intensifies the G7 engagement with key members of the BRICS+ grouping while maintaining distance from both, Russia and China. This sensitivity towards China was expected to manifest into a separate meeting of the Quad members as Australia was also present at the G7 Summit as an invitee. This underscored the centrality India holds for the G7 in framing security as well as economic responses to China, making an invite to India more about the collective needs of the G7 than Canada’s.
Size and dynamism
As Canada’s newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney pointed out, India’s presence at the G7 summit was “a reflection of the size and dynamism of the Indian economy and the leadership position India plays in global affairs”. In what was described as a “positive” meeting between the two prime ministers, they “agreed to take calibrated steps to restore stability to the relationship” and decided to restore High Commissioners to each other’s capitals.
India and Canada also agreed to resume senior-level dialogues on bilateral trade, people-to-people contact, and connectivity.
