“As a result of the G-20 Finance Ministers’ meeting in Bangalore failing to produce a communiqué, the G-20 ministerial has now failed to reach an agreement twice in a week. India arrived with a Chair’s summary as the G-20 meeting’s chair”.
Image Source: The Independent
There were significant differences in the Russia-Ukraine war between Russia – China, and the US-led West, which prevented the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting from reaching a consensus on a unified declaration on Thursday.
Although this appears to be a repetition of previously expressed opinions, it is noteworthy that both the US and India declared that the final paper was supported by a resounding majority. Washington supported Delhi’s claim that the Chair’s summary—released by India as the G-20 Chair—was the result of the agreement on a number of topics, which represents a measured step forward.
As a result of the G-20 Finance Ministers’ meeting in Bangalore failing to produce a communiqué, the G-20 ministerial has now failed to reach an agreement twice in a week. India arrived with a Chair’s summary as the G-20 meeting’s chair.
Image source: MSN
What happened in the 2023 G-20 meeting?
Foreign Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stated following the G-20 ministerial meeting that “there were divisions on the Ukraine crisis which we could not overcome.” Although the Bali proclamation had broad support, he claimed that several nations, like Russia and China, believed it could not be generalized.
He made it clear that even though there was agreement on “95 per cent” of the topics, there was disagreement on two paragraphs. He claimed that “nobody was on the same page” about those two paragraphs.
State secretary Antony Blinken echoed India’s stance when he said, “What we have seen is the outcome paper that represents the shared agreements on many subjects by all foreign ministers.”
Image source: Indian Express
With the exception of two nations he referred to as “outliers” and “holdouts,” he said that the G-20 had reached a wide consensus on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. He didn’t hold back when he singled out China and Russia as the two.
Despite India’s efforts to mediate the issues, these two’s objections to mentioning the Russian invasion led to the meeting ending without a common communique.
After having a brief conversation with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia, Blinken stated at a press conference that only Russia and China had made it plain that they would not sign on to that document.
He asserted that the US vigorously backs India’s G20 agenda. The summit, which was conducted under India’s leadership, adopted a Chair’s Report and Result statement, which outlined many important priorities for the coalition as consensus on the unified communique evaded them.
The global economy has been further harmed by the conflict in Ukraine. About this subject, a conversation took place. We reaffirmed the positions that our country has taken in other forums, such as the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, which in Resolution No. ES-11/1 of 2 March 2022, as adopted by a majority vote (35 abstentions, 141 votes for, 12 absent, and 5 against), strongly condemns the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine and calls for its unconditional and complete withdrawal from Ukrainian territory.
The majority of members vehemently denounced the conflict in Ukraine and underlined how it was aggravating already-existing economic fragilities by limiting development, raising prices, upsetting supply networks, escalating dangers to financial stability, and enhancing energy and food insecurity. There were more perspectives and various evaluations of the circumstances and sanctions.
We acknowledge that protection challenges can have a big impact on the global economy but that the G20 is not the appropriate platform to handle them.
Upholding the multilateral system and international law that protects peace and stability is crucial. This entails upholding international humanitarian law, particularly infrastructure in armed situations and the protection of civilians, and defending all the purposes and principles stated in the United Nations Charter. Nuclear weapons use or threat of usage is not permitted. Diplomacy and communication are essential, as are efforts to talk about crises and settle disputes amicably. There must be no conflict in the world now.
The Chair’s Report included a footnote stating that all members, with the exception of Russia and China, had agreed to the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration which was taken from that document on the 15th and 16th of November 2022.
The Outcome:
Jaishankar said, “In terms of the outcome paper… you will find that, almost, I would say, almost 95% in terms of section agreement, and it is just in two sections that we were not able to get everyone on the same page or same para as you can put it… I would encourage you to take a close look at the fact that this meeting was able to bring everyone to the table to discuss the important development issues of finance, debt, fuel, food, health, and climate change. As I said, this was no easy task given the current level of polarization in the world.
Jaishankar claimed that although “we were able to establish a consensus” in the Bali proclamation, “certain events have occurred since Bali… We endeavoured to close the deficit.
In his remarks, Lavrov stated: “The West has sacrificed all areas of the job that should form the basis of the G20’s activities to its goals in Ukrainian issues… I would like to express my regret to the Indian leadership and our counterparts from the Global South for the unethical conduct of Western delegations that transformed the G20 agenda work into a farce in an effort to primarily place the burden for their economic failures on Russia.