Balancing the redlines: How G20 New Delhi Leaders' Declaration came about

The Indian side surprised everyone by coming out with the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration a day ahead of schedule when most experts thought the host would fail to drive consensus in the face of what appeared to be insurmountable differences over the Ukraine war.

However, the joint communique with “100 per cent consensus” followed 200 hours of gruelling negotiations and some fine balancing of redlines of each country.

The Russian side had complained that only the Ukraine war should not be picked up while many conflicts are happening around the world with global ramifications.

The joint communique took care of the Russian concern with the opening line in the “For the Planet, People, Peace and Prosperity” section: “We note with deep concern the immense human suffering and the adverse impact of wars and conflicts around the world.”

While Russia is not mentioned in the context of war in the New Delhi declaration, the Bali declaration of last year, which had used strong words against Russia, is “recalled” in the second para along with resolutions adopted at the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly. However, the “war in Ukraine” phrase instead of “war against Ukraine” is considered another concession for Russia.

The G7 grouping led by the US wanted stronger condemnation of Russia for its aggression against Ukraine. However, from the very beginning, India had maintained that it wants to focus on developmental issues and that the war is not a priority for it.

However, the redline for the US was the threat of nuclear weapons, which was duly accommodated. “In line with the UN Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty, or political independence of any state. The use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons is inadmissible,” the declaration read.

China had maintained from the beginning that G20 “is not the right forum to discuss geopolitical issues”, while other countries have pointed out that such conflicts have wide-ranging ramifications for the world economy.

Views from across the divide were accommodated in a single sentence: “Reaffirming that the G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation, and recognising that while the G20 is not the platform to resolve geopolitical and security issues, we acknowledge that these issues can have significant consequences for the global economy.”

The references on the war ended with Prime minister Narendra Modi’s words that were incorporated in the Bali declaration: “Today’s era must not be of war.”

Speaking to news media company NDTV on Saturday night, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said India drew the redlines for each country and then worked on a draft, followed by several rounds of negotiations with each Sherpa. “Only last night (Friday), we gave the Sherpas the final draft and I told them this is the final document which we have produced, which is progressive, and based on the UN charters. I told them if anybody has a problem with it, then your leader can go and talk to my leader (Prime Minister Narendra Modi). We will not have a split paragraph, we will not have a footnote, and we will only have a consensus. All countries fell in line and they collaborated with us,” he added.

French President Emmanuel Macron in a speech on Sunday said there are certain items in the G20 declaration that he doesn’t agree with. “Russia-Ukraine (war) is one of them. 16 members of G20 voted on all resolutions that condemned Russia, 3 abstained and Russia voted against it (the resolution). G20 is not somewhere we will make diplomatic inroads,” he added.