WITH G20 AGREE ON A JOINT COMMUNIQUE?
With the G2O Summit to be held in New Delhi in September, it is a matter of concern that the various working groups at its meetings have not been able to issue a joint communique thus far.
WITH G20 AGREE ON A JOINT COMMUNIQUE?
With the G2O Summit to be held in New Delhi in September, it is a matter of concern that the various working groups at its meetings have not been able to issue a joint communique thus far.
Since its inception in 1999 and upgradation to a leaders level summit in 2008, the G20 grouping of the world's biggest economies has always managed to find a consensus within the countries. So if that doesn't take place this year in New Delhi, it would be an ignoble first for the grouping.
After the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, G8 leaders had suspended Russia, changing it to G7.
However, the G20 summit in Brisbane of that year still managed to issue a joint declaration without mentioning the Crimean conflict. In 2022, the Bali summit too managed to issue a document, after much tension throughout the Indonesian presidency.
The Indian presidency has continued with the 'Bali Paragraphs' in its documents as it maintains that a lot of hard work was put in to formulating them. The Bali formulation can be divided into three parts– the references to the UNSC and UNGA resolutions "deploring" Russia's war in Ukraine. Second, the statement that "most" members strongly condemned the war, refers to the IMF conventions for "qualifiers". Third, the use of PM Modi's phrase– "This era is not of war"– is universal and doesn't refer to any specific country.
Meanwhile, the additional line that G20 is not a forum for security issues but for economic issues arising from security concerns, like the impact of Ukraine war on fuel, food and fertilizer prices, is unimpeachable.
Also, India has maintained its stand regarding its priorities at G20, which include the focus on induction of African Union into the grouping, development goals, digital public infrastructure, gender led empowerment etc.
Russia and China oppose the language on Ukraine, even though it is taken from last year's document that they signed. Both have now refused to endorse the Bali document in every G20 meeting under India's presidency.
The Sherpa track will start the draft "Delhi Declaration" negotiations from August 1 and to try and nail the areas of differences, including the US-China tussles over debt sustainability, privacy issues over digital infrastructure, and so on.
Given that the BRICS summit is due at the end of August in Capetown, whether or not India succeeds in getting a consensus-based joint communique holds importance for its diplomacy.