2023-09-10 17:55:17
© Reuters.
Por Katya Golubkova e Michel Rose e Manoj Kumar
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The G20 summit in New Delhi ended on Sunday, with India handing over the bloc’s presidency to Brazil, while the United States and Russia praised the consensus that did not condemn Moscow for the war in Ukraine but called on member states to avoid the use of force.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the group’s leaders to hold a virtual meeting in November to review progress on suggested policies and targets announced this weekend.
“It is our responsibility to review the suggestions that have been made to see how progress can be accelerated,” he said in a statement.
On Saturday, the group adopted a Leaders’ Declaration that avoided condemning Russia for the war, but highlighted the human suffering the conflict has caused and called on all states not to use force to seize territory.
The consensus came as a surprise. In the weeks leading up to the summit, sharply differing views on the war threatened to derail the meeting, with Western nations demanding that members condemn Moscow for the invasion and Russia saying it would block any resolution that did not reflect its position.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, head of the Russian delegation, said the summit was a success for India and the Global South, the world’s developing countries.
The Global South’s position in the negotiations helped prevent the G20 agenda from being overshadowed by Ukraine, he said at a press conference.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that the summit statement “does a very good job of upholding the principle that states cannot use force to pursue territorial acquisition or to violate territorial integrity and the sovereignty or political independence of other States”.
Germany and Britain also praised the resolution, but Ukraine said it was “not something to be proud of”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that the G20, which was founded to resolve international economic issues, was not necessarily the place to expect diplomatic progress in the war in Ukraine.
However, he said the G20 declaration was not a diplomatic victory for Russia.
“This G20 confirms once again Russia’s isolation. Today, an overwhelming majority of G20 members condemn the war in Ukraine and its impact,” Macron said at a press conference following the summit’s closing ceremony.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is something that could shake the basis of cooperation in the G20.”
“Furthermore, this is having a major impact on the global economy through consequences such as continually rising food and energy prices.”
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine left tens of thousands dead, displaced millions of people and sowed economic turmoil around the world. Moscow, which says it is conducting a “special military operation” in the country, denies having committed any atrocities.
The summit also admitted the African Union, which includes 55 member states, as a permanent member of the G20, highlighting the inclusion of more developing countries in the bloc.
“This was one of the most difficult G20 summits in the forum’s almost twenty-year history… it took almost 20 days to agree on the declaration before the summit and five days here on the ground,” said Svetlana Lukash, negotiator of the Russian government of the G20, according to Russian news agency Interfax.
“This was not only due to some disagreements on the Ukraine issue, but also to differences in positions on all key issues, primarily the issues of climate change and the transition to low-carbon energy systems…”.
A European Union official, who declined to be named, said on Sunday that the Ukraine war was the most contentious issue in the negotiations.
“Without India’s leadership, this would not have been possible,” the official said, adding that Brazil and South Africa also played a crucial role in overcoming differences.
(Additional reporting by Krishn Kaushik; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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