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India, as the host country, was obliged to produce the G20 Chair’s summary and outcome document. (image/pti file)
India’s finance minister said the reason for the presidency’s statement was “because we still don’t have a common language on the Russia-Ukraine war.”
A meeting of the finance chiefs and central bankers of the Group of 20 leading economies on Tuesday in India ended without consensus due to differences between countries over the war in Ukraine.
After two days of talks, there was no final statement. Instead, India, as the host country, was obliged to release the G20 Chair’s summary and outcome document.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting concluded in Gandhinagar, a city in the western state of Gujarat, India’s finance minister said the reason for the presidency’s statement was “because we still don’t have a common language on the Russia-Ukraine war”.
Nirmala Sitharaman said the language describing the war was drawn directly from the declaration of last year’s G-20 summit in Indonesia. “We don’t have the mandate to change that,” she said, adding that it was something the leaders would have to decide when they meet in the capital, New Delhi, for the main summit in September.
According to the president’s summary, China and Russia objected to passages referring to the war that they said were causing “enormous human suffering” and “exacerbating existing fragility in the global economy.” The wording is from the previous declaration in Indonesia, where leaders strongly condemned the war.
Likewise in February and March, when India hosted G20 finance chiefs and foreign ministers, objections from Russia and China meant India had to issue the president’s summary.
Sitharaman said food security was a major priority. Members raised Russia’s move on Monday to block a deal that allowed grain to flow from Ukraine across the Black Sea to parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia as rising food prices push more people into poverty.
In this context today many members condemned it saying that it should not have happened. “The food that goes through the Black Sea should not have been stopped or suspended,” she told reporters.
During its G20 presidency this year, India has consistently pleaded with all members of the divided group to reach consensus on issues of particular concern to poorer countries, such as the debt crisis, inflation and the threat of climate change, even if the broader East-West divide over Ukraine cannot be resolved.
Seetharaman said the members had broad discussions on the overall global economic outlook, with particular attention to issues of food and energy, climate finance and how to improve assistance to heavily indebted countries.
As host, India has used its presidency to promote itself as a rising superpower and the voice of the global South. However, the split over Russia’s war in Ukraine has overshadowed much of the action, as India has not been able to issue an official statement after any of the key meetings since assuming the presidency of the G-20.
India’s longstanding ties with Russia have also been demonstrated with the Kremlin’s continued invasion of Ukraine despite the efforts of the United States and allied countries to punish and hit the Russian economy economically. India has not been involved in efforts to punish Russia and is maintaining its energy ties despite the G7 agreement on a cap on Russian oil prices, which has seen some success in slowing the Russian economy.
Meanwhile, Western officials continued to speak out against Moscow at international gatherings. Over the weekend, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who is in India for the G-20 talks, told reporters that ending the war in Ukraine “is first and foremost a moral imperative. But it’s also the best thing we can do for the global economy.”
She added that the United States would continue to cut off Russia’s access to the military equipment and technologies it needs to wage war against Ukraine.
(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – News agency)
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