The two-day G20 summit kicked off in New Delhi, India. The high-level meeting is being attended by all members of the group, which accounts for around 90% of global GDP, with invitations having been extended to nine other nations, including Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the UAE.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are not attending the meeting.
The summit’s agenda focuses on the theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, which was proposed by the host nation. The participants are expected to discuss a wide range of issues, including climate change, economic development and sustainable growth, gender equality, and the Ukraine conflict.
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10 September 2023
Italy plans to quit China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Bloomberg has reported, citing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The PM met with her Chinese counterpart Li Qiang on the sidelines of the G20 summit in India on Saturday.
Italy was the only G7 nation to join the global infrastructure pact launched by the Chinese government in 2013.
Reports in Italian media claim that Rome’s decision to pull out was not dictated by the United States. Instead, Italy will reportedly revitalize a 2004 strategic partnership agreement with China, aimed at fostering economic cooperation.
Japan has praised India’s role in reaching a consensus between the G20 countries at the summit in New Delhi.
“Under the leadership of India as this year’s chair, we were able to agree on the G20 Leaders’ declaration, which is a truly meaningful achievement,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a press conference at the conclusion of the summit.
On Saturday, the G20 leaders issued a joint declaration despite concerns that the issue of Ukraine would prevent members from reaching a consensus.
India's G20 presidency “set the path for the world,” World Bank President Ajay Banga has said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi.
“I consider the fact that there was a declaration, a tribute to the fact that the G20 leadership found a way to give and take and negotiate and find the right way to agree and set the path for the world. The world is watching, the G20 has got the developed world and the developing countries,” Banga was quoted by ANI news agency as saying.
He underscored that 80% of the world’s GDP was represented at the summit, and the fact that they agreed on the final communique sends a positive message.
Moscow and New Delhi are constantly in touch with each other on bilateral matters, including payment issues, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told the media in New Delhi.
“We have recently met with my counterpart S Jaishankar and discussed bilateral issues, including the issue of trade settlement. In the current situation, Russia has billions of rupees accumulated in the accounts of Indian banks, and we are discussing how they can be used. And our Indian friends have promised they will suggest prospective areas where these funds can be used as investments."
The minister noted that other bilateral agreements, including in the defense sector, are progressing as planned.
The West’s proposal to reconnect Rosselkhozbank (Russian Agricultural Bank) to the SWIFT system through a Luxembourg-based subsidiary is “completely unrealistic,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
It was reported earlier this week that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Lavrov that the branch could apply for access to SWIFT “immediately” and potentially receive it within a month.
According to Lavrov, the subsidiary in question does not have a license for banking operations and will be closed down.
Russia appreciates the efforts made by the UN Secretary-General to revive the Black Sea grain deal, but that work is doomed if the West does not deliver on its promises to accommodate Moscow’s needs, Lavrov stated. Guterres’ efforts were aimed at lifting sanctions on Russian fertilizer and food exports, he stressed.
Russia pulled out of the deal in July saying that the West had failed to meet its demands under the agreement. Access for Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT international banking messaging system is Moscow’s key condition for reviving the Black Sea grain deal.
The African continent needs to do away with Western colonialist habits, the Russian foreign minister said. Speaking at a press conference after the G20 summit in New Delhi, Sergey Lavrov discussed the attempts made by Western countries to prevent African leaders from engaging with Russia and the demands that they “do as they’re told,” instead of making their own informed decisions.
The former colonial countries have neglected Africa’s most pressing needs, which is most evident when it comes to technology, Lavrov said while answering a question from RT.
Citing the negotiations at the Russia-Africa summit in July and other events, the foreign minister said that African nations do not want to continue to sell their raw materials to the West for processing, as the West then sells the processed products at inflated prices and makes huge profits, none of which trickles back down to the countries of origin. African nations want the technology to be able to process their resources on their own soil, Lavrov stated.
The G20 Summit has concluded in Delhi with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi passing the presidency baton to Brazilian President Lula da Silva.
In his closing remarks, Modi called for further work on some of the issues that India pushed during its tenure as the host. Modi advocated for global standards in crypto regulation and the need to expand the mandate for multilateral development banks.
Marking the symbolic transfer of the G20 presidency, Modi handed over the gavel to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who praised India for giving voice to the interests of emerging economies.
The G20 summit will give a strong impetus to the reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
"The [Delhi] declaration sets out the tasks of reforming the International Monetary Fund. If IMF quotas and votes were distributed fairly, the Americans would have lost their artificially maintained veto power a long time ago. The summit will give a strong impetus to the efforts to reform the IMF and the WTO, the efforts that are being artificially held back by the Americans and their allies," the minister said.
The Delhi Declaration adopted on Saturday pledges to reform international financial institutions, including an improvement of the WTO’s functions “through an inclusive member-driven process” and a revision of the adequacy of IMF quotas.
The West failed to "Ukrainize" the agenda of the G20 summit in India, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
The Delhi Declaration refers to the situation in Ukraine in the broader context of the peaceful resolution of all conflicts, Lavrov told a press conference at the conclusion of the G20 leaders’ summit.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), calling it the “largest cooperation project in our history.”
The project, which was unveiled on Saturday, aims at streamlining trade, telecommunications, and supply chains.
“I welcome the statement that was released today by the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the European Union… Israel is at the focus of an unprecedented international project that will link infrastructure from Asia to Europe. This link will also realize a multi-year vision that will change the face of the Middle East, and Israel, and will affect the entire world,” he said.
The G20 may end without progress on reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a UN-backed deal to allow Ukrainian grain to be shipped through the Black Sea, US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer told reporters aboard Air Force One. According to Finer, at this point, the “ball really is in Russia’s court.”
The G20 leaders’ declaration on Saturday called for ensuring “the immediate and unimpeded deliveries of grain... to meet the demand in developing and least developed countries, particularly those in Africa.”
However, Russia reiterated on Saturday it would only return to the grain deal once its conditions are met.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced a record aid commitment of $2 billion to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the UK’s largest single funding contribution to battling climate change, the British High Commission in India said on Sunday.
“Today’s pledge represents a 12.7% increase on the UK’s previous contribution to the GCF for the period of 2020-2023, which was itself a doubling of our initial funding to establish the fund in 2014,” the release said. The GCF, established by 194 countries following the Copenhagen Accord at COP15, is financing projects aimed at tackling climate change.
Sunak, who is of Indian origin and who called himself a ‘proud Hindu’ on Sunday visited Akshardham Temple in New Delhi along with his wife to offer prayers.
On the second day of the G20 summit in New Delhi, world leaders joined PM Narendra Modi to lay wreaths to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the Raj Ghat memorial complex.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US President Joe Biden, UK PM Rishi Sunak, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived at Rajghat for the ceremony. Many of the leaders were barefoot as they walked toward the Gandhi memorial, as a sign of respect. As they approached the dais, one of Mahatma’s favorite hymns, Vaishnava Janato, was playing in the background.
After the wreath laying, the leaders will return to the G20 summit venue, Bharat Mandapam, for a tree planting ceremony, followed by the summit’s third session, ‘One Future’.
The Indian presidency in the G20 has succeeded in the complicated task of drafting a joint resolution, which was “shared by all members,” and at the same time, reflected differing opinions on sensitive issues, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Indian officials stressed that the G20 leaders’ declaration adopted on Saturday signifies New Delhi’s commitment to serve as a unifying host.
A number of countries unveiled a plan to set up the ‘India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor’ aimed at streamlining trade and telecommunications. The participants of the project are the US, India, France, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and EU.
“Across the corridor, we envision driving existing trade and manufacturing and strengthening food security and supply chains,” the countries said in a statement. The project includes the laying of new undersea cables to link energy grids and “expand reliable access to electricity.”
The US and the West have been trying to “tear the G20 apart” since last year’s summit in Bali, Indonesia, an editorial in China’s state-run newspaper the Global Times said.
The editorial hit back at US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who suggested earlier this week that Beijing might “play the role of a spoiler” at the summit. It stressed that G20 members should focus on achieving “mutual benefits and win-win results.”
09 September 2023
Kiev criticized the summit’s joint declaration, arguing that G20 members “have nothing to be proud of” in terms of how the document describes the Ukraine conflict.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko lamented that Ukraine did not participate in the writing of the declaration, which he saw as a blow to the “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” principle.
New Delhi is using the G20 event to highlight its desire to act as moderator between world powers, veteran journalist Ajit Kumar Jha told RT. He said one of the Modi government’s aims is to foster a “multilateral global consensus,” which would include Russia and China, as well as the developing and poorer countries.
“The role that India wants to play is to build a bridge between the Global South and the Global North,” despite the ongoing tensions between Russia and NATO and between Washington and Beijing, Jha said. The journalist added that India is well-positioned for this role, given its close ties to both the US and Russia, as well as good trade relations with China.
Narendra Modi’s welcoming of the African Union to the G20 should spur further expansion of the group, Indian foreign policy expert Suvrokamal Dutta told RT. “Not only the African Union but also the Pacific Islands nations such as Kiribati and Fiji, which are extremely underrepresented, must be included,” he said.
With India’s fellow BRICS members Brazil and South Africa set to host the next two G20 gatherings, Dutta said that the issue of representation for the so-called Global South will remain high on the group’s agenda for the foreseeable future.
“I wish Russian President Vladimir Putin had come to Delhi,” journalist and political analyst Jyoti Malhotra told RT, describing Putin as a “friend” of India. Along with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin skipped the G20 summit, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov representing Russia in his place.
“The flavor of this summit is different,” Malhotra added, noting that by including developing nations like Bangladesh among the observer countries invited to this year’s summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking to change the image of the G20 as “an exclusive club dominated by Western powers.”
The joint declaration of the G20 countries was a “blow” to Western countries that had been hoping for a condemnation of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Saturday evening.
After intense negotiations, the final document called on all nations to respect the “territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state,” and expressed concern for the humanitarian impact of the conflict.
Prior to the document’s release, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised that it would contain “very strong language about Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.” However, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the document should reflect the “multiple views” on the conflict among the G20 members.
As the first day of the G20 summit draws to a close, leaders and envoys have sat down to a dinner hosted by Indian President Droupadi Murmu at the forum’s venue in New Delhi.
The four vegetarian courses on offer included jackfruit galette, cardamom-flavored flatbread, and millet pudding. India has promoted millets as versatile and hardy grains that can “play an important role in addressing issues such as climate change and food security,” according to the menu.
By welcoming the African Union to the G20, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is counteracting Western dominance and “trying to balance” the group, Nandan Unnikrishnan, a distinguished fellow of the Observer Research Foundation, told RT.
“India’s G20 presidency is to showcase the voice of the developing countries, the challenges they are facing and to project their interests,” Unnikrishnan said, adding that the inclusion of the African Union was “not unexpected.”
“There’s little doubt that the G7 had unusually heavy influence in the G20,” he continued, adding that while groups like BRICS offer a path to representation for developing nations, the G20 gives these countries a platform to raise their disagreements and seek compromise with the West.
“There are many views and many interests that the West has that are contrary to the interests of the developing world, and we have to find ways to finesse that,” he said.
The G20 countries support building a secure and sustainable digital economy, the group’s leaders said in the Delhi Declaration.
“An enabling, inclusive, open, fair, non-discriminatory and secure digital economy is increasingly important for all countries and stakeholders while respecting applicable legal frameworks. We will share our approaches and good practices to build a safe, secure and resilient digital economy,” reads the document.
To build trust in the digital economy, the members pledged to offer support to businesses and promote cyber education and awareness among children and youth.
The G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration has condemned any attacks against critical infrastructure, including key energy facilities and other vulnerable targets.
According to the declaration, “effective counterterrorism measures, support for the victims of terrorism and the protection of human rights are not conflicting goals, but complementary and mutually reinforcing.”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should play a central role in the global financial safety system, the G20 leaders said in the Delhi Declaration.
“We reiterate our commitment to a strong, quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF at the centre of the global financial safety net,” reads the document.
The group has pledged to revise the adequacy of IMF member quotas, the fund’s primary source of funding, and to continue to reform the fund’s governance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unveiled a rail and shipping project linking India to Middle East and Europe.
“Along with physical infrastructure, social, digital, and financial infrastructure have seen massive investment,” the prime minister said, adding that the project will take a demand-driven approach.
“This will help reduce the infrastructural gap in the Global South. It will increase connectivity among nations and will help increase trust,” he said.
The initiative, officially dubbed the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, is seen as countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The infrastructure project involves India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the US, EU, and other countries.
“The new India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor is a game-changing regional investment,” US President Joe Biden said, commenting on the announcement.
In the Delhi Declaration, the G20 has called for reforms to the World Trade Organization. According to the document, the WTO functions need to be improved through an inclusive member-driven process to achieve a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system by 2024.
The G20 members also expressed their commitment to achieving a rules-based, non-discriminatory, fair, open, inclusive, equitable, sustainable, and transparent multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core.
The G20 summit in New Delhi has been one of the most difficult in the group’s history due to the disagreements on Ukraine, Russian G20 Sherpa Svetlana Lukash has said. The negotiations on the issue of Ukraine were tough, she added.
"The unity between the BRICS countries and other partners has worked. Half of the G20 refused to interpret the events [in Ukraine] the way the West wants to present them," Lukash stated.
Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar has denied claims that this year’s G20 Leaders’ Summit Declaration was “watered down” on Ukraine compared to last year’s communique adopted in Bali.
“Bali is Bali, Delhi is Delhi, Bali was a year ago, the situation was different,” the minister said, answering a question from BBC.
“In the geopolitical section of the declaration, there are eight paragraphs, seven of them highlighted problems that are of great contemporary significance, including the issues of attacks on critical infrastructure,” Jaishankar added.
The Delhi Declaration does not describe Russia’s military operation in Ukraine as ‘aggression or invasion’, unlike last year’s statement, and contains no mention of the controversial issue of sanctions.
Emerging market countries played a key role in phrasing the G20 summit declaration’s paragraphs related to the conflict in Ukraine, Indian G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant told a press conference in Delhi.
India worked very closely with Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia to phrase the summit’s statement, in what Kant described as a very tough negotiation that went on for several days non-stop.
According to Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharama, since the group’s members have different levels of economic development, the resolution takes into consideration their various requirements. The Indian presidency worked to ensure that geopolitical tensions and differences did not overshadow the summit’s key agenda, she added.
The G20 Leaders’ Summit Declaration focuses on promoting strong, sustainable, inclusive growth, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at a joint press conference.
The declaration seeks to accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goals and has come up with an action plan accordingly, the minister explained.
“We have consciously sought to make this G20 as inclusive and broad-based as possible,” he said. “It is a matter of particular satisfaction for us that the African Union this morning has become the permanent member of G20, under India’s presidency.”
A “historical and path breaking declaration” was agreed with 100% consensus on all developmental and geo-political issues, according to India’s G20 sherpa, Amitabh Kant.
“The new geopolitical paras are a powerful call for Planet, People, Peace and Prosperity in today’s world,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, PTI news agency has reported, citing the Ministry of External Affairs.
Bin Salman arrived in India on a three-day state visit to attend the G20 summit in Delhi over the weekend and to meet with Modi on Monday.
The two leaders will discuss political, security, defense, trade, and economic ties, and co-chair a meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council, the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Modi called the beginning of the G20 summit “productive,” as the first session on the subject of ‘One Earth’ concluded.
“Highlighted the need to further human centric development, which is also something Indian culture has always emphasised on,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter).
The prime minister added that New Delhi has worked on initiatives such as Mission LiFE – an Indian-led global movement to urge individual and community action to protect and preserve the environment. During its presidency, India has launched the International Year of Millets, as well as the Green Grids Initiative to harness solar power, and the ambitious National Green Hydrogen Mission.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is urging several G20 leaders to meet some of Russia’s demands to revive a deal that had allowed Ukrainian grain shipments to reach the global markets, Bloomberg reports.
Erdogan, who helped broker the original Black Sea Grain Initiative in 2022, is making the push in closed-door meetings with leaders at the G20 summit in New Delhi this weekend, people familiar with the talks told the media outlet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the post-Covid world is suffering from a trust deficit, and the Ukraine conflict has deepened it further, adding that we need to “walk together” for the global good.
“This is a time when age-old challenges are calling for new solutions from us. And therefore, with a human-centric approach, we have to move forward to fulfil our responsibilities,” the Indian prime minister said.
“As G20 president, India appeals to the world to change this global trust deficit into confidence in each other. It is a time to walk together,” he added.
Sending a strong message amid the debate over India potentially changing its name to Bharat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened the summit of G20 leaders with the name plate in front of him reading ‘Bharat’.
There is a growing push in the country to adopt the name change, since ‘India’ – the conventional English rendering of the country’s name – to some at least, symbolizes colonial slavery.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has formally invited the African Union to join the G20. “With everyone’s approval, I request the African Union (AU) head to take his seat as a permanent G20 member,” he said in his opening remarks at the summit.
Founded in 1999, the African Union is made up of 55 states and encompasses virtually the entire continent. One of its main objectives is to eliminate “the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid” as well as promoting unity and solidarity among its members.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived at the G20 summit in New Delhi where he was welcomed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Lavrov is expected to take part in two plenary sessions and hold a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines.