G-20 shown unmistakable symbol of India’s rise at group photo
Narendra Modi welcomed world leaders to the Raj Ghat memorial complex in central Delhi on Sunday, site of the eternal flame that burns for Mahatma Gandhi.
Symbolism is hard to escape in the so-called family photograph. It’s a G-20 tradition that offers a rare, unvarnished glimpse of the interaction between leaders — the warmth or chill of greetings, the backslapping, side chats, scowls or moments of awkwardness — and so points to the state of world relations.
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Absent from this year’s lineup were China’s President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, both of whom skipped the summit amid tensions with the US and its allies.
(Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who rarely leaves the Americas, also stayed away.)
Indian media reported that the picture would not be a traditional family photo due to disagreement over the inclusion of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who stood in for Putin.
US-China rivalry and Putin’s war on Ukraine were never far away from the summit and infused the joint statement. But those global challenges took a momentary back seat as leaders ambled toward the black marble monument to Gandhi for their family portrait.
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Barefoot walk
Some, like Germany’s Olaf Scholz and Canada’s Justin Trudeau, walked barefoot through the wet.
