Indonesian President Joko Widodo called this morning for the end of the war in Ukraine, during the opening of the G20 summit, which brings together the world’s leading economies on the island of Bali.
“We must end the war,” Widodo said at the official opening of the event.
“We must not transform the world into a new cold war,” added the Indonesian leader, who hopes that the meeting will be a space for dialogue between all parties.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is largely absent from the largest gathering of world leaders since the start of the covid-19 pandemic, held at a luxury hotel in Bali.
Moscow cited scheduling problems and the need for Putin to remain in Russia to justify his absence.
This is the first G20 summit since the war broke out in Ukraine on February 24 this year, and the lack of consensus among the participants could be reflected in the final joint declaration, as was the case at the summit of the Association of Nations of the Southeast Asia.( ASEAN), held on Sunday in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
Despite the fact that Ukraine is not part of the G20, President Volodymyr Zelensky was invited by his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, the group’s interim president, to speak via videoconference.
Under the motto “recover together, recover stronger”, the summit was supposed to focus on the global risks of the Covid-19 pandemic, economic downturn and sustained development, as envisioned by the Indonesian G20 presidency.
The conflict in Ukraine has created, however, new global problems that will have to be discussed in Bali, such as the energy crisis or the risk of food shortages, in addition to the war itself.
The summit on the so-called “island of the gods” was already marked this Monday by an unprecedented face-to-face meeting between the presidents of the United States, Joe Biden, and China, Xi Jinping.
Other bilateral meetings are planned, such as Xi’s with French President Emmanuel Macron, announced for today.
In addition to Xi, Biden, Macron and the host, Widodo, the presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey), Yoon Suk-yeol (South Korea), Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa) and Alberto Fernández (Argentina) will participate.
The list also includes heads of government Olaf Scholz (Germany), Giorgia Meloni (Italy), Rishi Sunak (UK), Fumio Ksihida (Japan) and Narendra Modi (India).
Also in Bali are Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese (Australia), Justin Trudeau (Canada) and Mohammad bin Salman (Saudi Arabia) and the head of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, in this case as a guest.
The European Union, which is also part of the G20, sent the presidents of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and of the European Council, Charles Michel.
In addition to Russia, two other countries are represented by the heads of diplomacy, Brazil, by Carlos Alberto França, and Mexico, by Marcelo Ebrard.
Also in Bali are the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, among other institutional representatives.
Together, the G20 represents 60% of the world’s population, 80% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 75% of global exports, according to data from the group’s Indonesian presidency.
The summit takes place 20 years after a terrorist attack on the resort island that killed 202 people of 23 nationalities, including one Portuguese.
To ensure security, Indonesia has deployed 18,000 military and police officers to the Nusa Dua area in southern Bali, where participants are staying in 20 hotels.
And in the event of a natural disaster on an island located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, prone to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, 1,500 members of the security forces are prepared to evacuate participants to safe places.
Source: TSF
