In the middle of the G20 summit in New Delhi last month, President Joe Biden peeled away for a small gathering with a few other world leaders.

In attendance were Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister and host, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the leader of Brazil — three of the five countries in the Brics grouping of large developing countries. They held hands and smiled for the cameras, along with Ajay Banga, the new president of the World Bank. 

The event occurred shortly after Biden had presented what US officials describe as a big new push to deliver billions of dollars in additional financing to emerging and developing economies. Absent from the session at the G20 were China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.