Russia-Ukraine war discussion may be pushed to the last minute of G20 talks

On the first day, members discussed the preamble and conclusion paras of the proposed communique, he said

Apprehensive that the Russia-Ukraine war related proposed paragraph may scuttle progress on other agenda items, India is pushing a discussion on the contentious matter to the last minute.

Addressing the media on the first day of the third Sherpa meet at Hampi, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said India is only discussing the contentious geopolitics issue only bilaterally with member nations, avoiding discussions at the group level. “Russia-Ukraine war is not the elephant in the room. The Russia-Ukraine war was not our creation, it is not a creation of developing countries and emerging countries. It is not a priority for us. Our priority is developmental issues. That is why we will discuss it right at the end,” Kant said.

While the developed countries are pushing for inclusion of a strong paragraph criticising Russia for the Ukraine invasion, China and Russia are strongly against any mention of the war in the leaders’ statement.

“Whether we get a solution or not, that is nothing to reflect (on us). We will push all ambitious issues. If we are able to bring the African Union as a member of the G20, that’s a huge achievement. Why should we be bothered about the priorities of others? That’s an important issue but there are many other important issues,” Kant said.

Kant said members are discussing a definition of digital public infrastructure and how countries can use artificial intelligence for benefits of their citizens as part of technological transformation.

Kant said on the first day of the Sherpa meet at Hampi, members discussed the preamble and conclusion paras of the proposed communique. “Getting 29 countries to agree is very difficult and complex. We will have to work very hard on this. We are doing about 17 hours of discussion. Then we have several inter-sessional discussions. We will issue a press statement at the end of the meeting,” he said. The G20 countries are also discussing a new action plan for next seven years to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are lagging behind its 2030 target.

“Because of the Covid and the cost of living crisis, we have regressed and only 12 per cent of the targets are on track. We are trying to leverage the G20 power and its collective resolve to champion the agenda 2030 to accelerate progress on SDGs,” Kant said.

Among other priority areas, Kant said countries are focussing on reforming multilateral institutions for 21st century. “This is absolutely necessary for money to flow into the emerging markets. We are focussing on reforming international financial institutions. The first half of the report by NK Singh and Larry Summers has been submitted. We will be discussing that after the finance ministers discuss it,” he added.

Kant said on developmental issues, broadly there is an agreement on what India has proposed. There are some minor suggestions. We don’t want too much text. Right now we are taking all suggestions, we have already done one revised draft. We will do a second revised draft during this round of Sherpa talks,” he added.