Erdogan-Putin Meeting In Sochi Was Diplomatic Version Of “Speed-Dating”- The G20 Leaders’ Summit In New Delhi Will Be “Speed-Dating On Steroids” Time For 20 X 20 Rule?
The Erdogan-Putin Meeting In Sochi Was Diplomatic Version Of “Speed-Dating”
Traveling Nearing 540 Minutes For A 90 Minute Face-To-Face To Discuss At Least Ten Issues.
The G20 Leaders’ Summit In New Delhi Will Be “Speed-Dating” On Steroids.
20 X 20 Rule?
Extract Time For Official Welcomes, Family Photos, Venue-To-Venue Motorcades, Arrival Delays (Scripted And Non-Scripted), Departure Delays (Scripted And Non-Scripted), Exchanging Pleasantries, And Meals, There Is Precious Little Time For Substantive Conversations- Let Alone Actually Negotiating Agreements.
What Will Be Is What Has Become Expected At G7, G20, EU, And NATO Gatherings- Most Decisions Announced By Principals Have Been Weeks Or Months In The Crafting, So Gatherings Of Principals Are More About Presentation Than A Test Of Wills And Negotiating Skills.
Maybe The 2024 G20 Leader’s Summit Should Be Expanded To Three Days.
Idea…. Require Each Principal Attending The G20 Leaders’ Summit To Have A Bilateral With Each Of The Other Nineteen Principals. That Means Twenty (20) Meetings Per Principal- Four Hundred (400) Meetings Total.
Will President Biden’s Performance, As At The G20 Leaders’ Summit In Bali, Indonesia, Reinforce That He Is An Elderly Man And Increasingly Frail Elderly Man?
According to the Moscow, Russian Federation-based Tass News Agency, the meeting on Monday, 4 September 2023, in the Black Sea coastal resort city of Sochi, for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkiye (2014- ), and Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012- ) lasted approximately ninety (90) minutes.
Flight time from Moscow to Sochi is approximately 3 hours and 48 minutes. Flight time from Ankara to Sochi is approximately 3 hours. Add travel to/from departure airport and from/to arrival airport… nearing nine hours for a one and-a-half-hour meeting.
That’s 90 minutes to discuss at least, as both heads of state confirmed: Russian Federation-Ukraine war; Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI); Syria; Bilateral Trade; Energy (oil, gas, nuclear fuel); Defense; Tourism; Banking; Finance; and Sanctions. President Erdogan and President Putin were accompanied by delegations.
Important to note on 31 August 2023 and 1 September 2023 in Moscow, Russian Federation, Hakan Fidan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkiye (2023- ), met with Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (2004- ), and with Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation (2012- ). These meetings included expanded issue delegations.
The G20 Leaders’ Summit scheduled for 9/10 September 2023 in New Delhi, Bharat (India), will not be two full days of face-to-face meetings.
Subtract the mechanics (including delivery of scripted remarks) from what are uniformly required for international gatherings (to benefit politically the principals), and there remains perhaps fifteen (15) hours of multi-participant gatherings, meaning the principals (heads of state, heads of government, foreign minister) in the same room at the same time along with their respective delegations sitting behind them. Far too much is in the form of scripted remarks and previously agreed to presentations and outcomes.
At meals is where they are with one another at tables with only an interpreter if required seated behind them. Here is where there is an opportunity for the unscripted- for an idea to be suggested.
Sadly, even at meals there are principals who grasp their note cards as a parent would grasp the hand of a child at a crowded amusement park or an addict would protect their stimulant of choice.
G20: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, United Kingdom, United States and representatives of the European Union (EU).
NOTE: Unfortunately, neither President Putin nor Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, are scheduled to participate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit. President Putin will be represented by Foreign Minister Lavrov and President Xi will be represented by Premier Li Qiang. Attending annual G7, G20, BRICS, NATO, ASEAN, United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), EU, etc. gatherings should be compulsory for heads of state and heads of government to defend their decisions, promote their agendas, and seek support for the ideas and policies.
G20 India 2023 Leaders’ Summit Participants
In addition to the G20 members, other countries are invited to participate. Spain is a permanent guest invitee to the G20 meetings.
As host, Prime Minister Modi has invited as guests Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, and United Arab Emirates.
International Organizations “that have historically contributed to the G20 work are invited as well. These include the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations (UN), the World Bank Group (WBG), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).”
As host, Prime Minister Modi has invited the chairs of the African Union (AU), African Union Development Agency- New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
As host, Prime Minister Modi has invited as guests international organizations the International Solar Alliance (ISA), Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), and Asian Development Bank (ADB).