This year’s G20 summit is set to end on November 16 after two days of talks in Brisbane, Australia. The next day, Xi Jinping, leader of the fastest growing major economy, will address the Australian parliament in Canberra. On November 18, Narendra Modi, who has inspired a nation of more than 1.2 billion people that it can rival China as an economic power, is scheduled to become the first Indian prime minister ever to speak to a full assembly of Australian lawmakers.
Those could be three fascinating days. By the time Modi makes it to Canberra, UK prime minister David Cameron’s speech to parliament on November 14 likely will have been forgotten. And sadly, based on its recent track record, the G20 will have been forgotten too. The post-crisis period has come to be characterized by bilateral trade negotiations, an uncomfortable rise in border scuffling and resurgent Islamic terrorism. With that backdrop, expect Xi and Modi to steal the stage from the G20. Continue reading ... Comments are closed.
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