Abdullah bin Zayed: Supporting India’s G20 is priority for UAE

In his article published by the IndianExpress daily, Indian news media publishing company, Sheikh Abdullah said:

 The United Arab Emirates has long viewed the G20 as a forum that plays a critical role in multilateral efforts. With its focus on global financial issues, the G20’s members include major developed and developing economies that account for 85 per cent of global GDP, 75 per cent of trade, and nearly two-thirds of the world’s population. As such, the G20 has the ability to reshape decision-making for the greater international good, and the UAE has been a reliable participant in the G20 framework to confront shared international challenges while encouraging a balanced, sustainable, and comprehensive global economic recovery.

That is why in the political realm, through the G20 process and beyond, the UAE affirms that dialogue and diplomacy are the most successful options for building trust and addressing crises. Wherever possible, the UAE will continue to support global peace and stability. This is an approach that we will take as we prepare for India’s hosting of the G20 Summit in 2023.

Supporting the Indian presidency of the G20 is a key priority for the UAE, a message I conveyed during my recent visit to New Delhi to meet with India’s Minister for External Affairs, S Jaishankar. I was heartened to learn of India’s vision for the G20 presidency, including its ambitions to strengthen women’s empowerment; achieve bold progress in health, agriculture, and education; mobilise financing for climate change mitigation and global food security; bolster the fight against financial crime, and reform multilateral institutions to become more inclusive. In fact, the latter is also a key priority of the UAE, as it has worked tirelessly to amplify the voices of small and underrepresented countries in the G20. This strategy is a natural extension of the UAE’s foreign policy, which always seeks to support partners around the world and ensure that diverse perspectives are heard on the critical issues of our time.

 

This was evident when I attended the 2022 G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in a high-level UAE delegation led by UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Held in Bali from November 15-16, the summit was organised under the Indonesian G20 Presidency. After days of deliberations, the summit produced a powerful declaration in which countries affirmed that in line with the Indonesian G20 Presidency theme — Recover Together, Recover Stronger — the international community will take coordinated action to advance an agenda for a strong, inclusive, and resilient global recovery, he noted.

 Through its participation in the G20 process as a guest country of Indonesia, particularly following its successful experience as a guest of Saudi Arabia in 2020, the UAE has remained committed to strengthening economic cooperation, serving as a reliable and responsible energy supplier, and ensuring the stability of global energy markets. Moreover, through the G20’s Sherpa and Finance Tracks, the UAE has doubled down on its pioneering agenda in the clean energy sector and ambitious initiative to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. As the upcoming host of COP28 in November 2023, the UAE has leveraged its participation in the G20 process to mobilise international action and will continue to do so in the lead-up to the conference.

At the same time, we must not lose focus of other issues, especially those exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, such as global health and food security. There is no economic growth, prosperity, or progress without adequate health and medical care for all. The UAE, as a regional and global economic hub, continues to exert significant effort to ensure the sustainability of food and medicine supply chains through its foreign trade, ports, aviation, and advanced logistics facilities.

This infrastructure has proven to be essential in the face of global conflict that has accelerated the food and fuel crises, as well as humanitarian suffering. While the UAE has been an active provider of humanitarian, food, medical, and shelter assistance to countries in need, we recognise that the world must address the roots of conflict in order to prevent the outbreak of further violence.

Over the next year, the world can choose to collaborate to improve economic growth, political stability, and human security. By laying the groundwork for heightened international cooperation and enhanced engagement with the private sector through multilateral fora such as the G20, the UAE and its partners are determined to forge a better world — one where prosperity is commonplace, and human progress is an inalienable right for all.