Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this Saturday a consensus in the G20 on the New Delhi summit declaration, despite the group’s fragmentation on issues such as the war in Ukraine and debt restructuring.
“Thanks to the hard work of our teams and their support, a consensus has emerged on the declaration of the G20 Summit of Heads of State and Government in New Delhi,” said Modi, quoted by the AFP and EFE agencies.
“I announce the adoption of the declaration,” said the Indian Prime Minister, accompanying his words with a ceremonial gavel as host of the summit.
The content of the G20 joint statement, whose summit ends on Sunday, has not yet been made public.
The G20 brings together the 19 most developed or emerging economies and the European Union.
The African Union has joined the group as of today and the name change to G21 has not yet been mentioned.
Achieving consensus within the G20 has become increasingly complex in recent years.
The members of the group have mainly disagreed on the position to take regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine and on the financing necessary for adaptation to climate change.
The so-called New Delhi Declaration is made up of more than 100 points, according to EFE.
The condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine was the issue that most threatened the joint agreement, according to sources linked to the negotiations.
India presented a draft text, but most countries, especially those of the G7, considered the proposal and the terms in which the war is handled insufficient, an official from the European Union (EU) told Efe.
Language on the conflict was again the main obstacle, as at last year’s summit in Bali, Indonesia, whose final statement stated that “the majority of members” strongly condemned the Russian war against Ukraine.
Tensions between Western countries and Russia and China marked the Indian presidency of the G20, particularly due to disagreements over the war in Ukraine or the restructuring of the debt of emerging economies.
The absence of the presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and China, Xi Jinping, at the summit only served to highlight the division with the rest of the countries, which made it difficult to reach a consensus.
If an agreement had not been reached, this would have been the first G20 summit without a consensus statement, at a time when other multilateral forums have demonstrated their inability to make progress in solving the crisis.
Source: TSF
