Maybe it's also a great thing to not to have to attempt to project prowess and lead in every aspect.

Not sure about this either.

Wouldn't fragmentation (alternative approaches to technological development) also benefit global innovation, as opposed to developing in lockstep? Sure, there are benefits to joint sharing of technology, but that doesn't seem to be reality in many areas.

My take is that leaving a meeting after chewing through key areas and allowing other members to continue discussions is a sign of maturity and realism. There's obviously a lot of areas that might be important to represent. Somehow I don't imagine that all nations of the globe were represented. That's significant in that we should consider all nations equal.