G20 members ‘almost ready’ with Leaders’ Declaration: India

G20 countries have almost finalised a declaration for the weekend summit of its leaders, host India said yesterday, suggesting that negotiators had made progress in bridging differences in the group over the war in Ukraine.

India’s G20 sherpa, or negotiator, Amitabh Kant said the summit’s concluding statement, the Leaders’ Declaration, will be a “voice” of the global south and developing countries.

“New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration is almost ready, I would not like to dwell on it,” Kant told a news conference. “This declaration will be recommended to the leaders.”

Negotiators of the Group of 20 major economies have been struggling for days to agree on the language in the document because of differences over the war, hoping to get Moscow and Beijing on board to produce a communique that will also address pressing global problems like debt and climate change.

The weekend summit in New Delhi is expected to be dominated by the West and its allies. Chinese President Xi Jinping is skipping the meeting and sending Premier Li Qiang instead, while Russia’s Vladimir Putin will also be absent.

US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Saudi Arabia’s Mohamed bin Salman and Japan’s Fumio Kishida, among others, will attend.

China yesterday said it is willing to work with all parties and push for a positive outcome at the summit.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks after a media

report said Sunak blamed China for delaying an agreement on various issues, including Ukraine.

Sunak will urge Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “call out” Russia over its invasion and use its clout to help end the war, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The hardened stance on the war has prevented agreement on even a single communique at the ministerial meetings during India’s G20 presidency so far this year, leaving it to the leaders to find a way around, if possible.

Modi’s government is projecting India’s presidency of the group and the summit as a showcase for the country’s fast-growing economy and its rising position in the geo-political pecking order.

New Delhi has been decked up for the gathering with a brand new summit venue, fountains, flowerpots and illumination along major thoroughfares, alongside thousands of armed security personnel standing guard.