Monitoring Office
ISLAMABAD: Delegates from the world’s most powerful countries have reached a compromise on the language used to describe the war in Ukraine, a source close to the discussions said, as their leaders began the annual G20 summit in New Delhi on Saturday.
Host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the two-day meeting by calling on members to end the “global trust deficit” and announced that the bloc was granting permanent membership to the African Union in the aim of making it more representative.
“Today, as Chair of the G20, India calls on the entire world to first convert this global trust deficit into one trust,” he said. “It’s time for all of us to act together.”
The group is deeply divided over the war in Ukraine, with Western countries pushing for strong condemnation of Russia in the leaders’ statement to be released at the end of the summit, while others demanding a focus on issues broader economics.
G20 sherpas, or country representatives, reached a compromise on the language to use in the communiqué, which will be presented to leaders, the source close to the negotiations said.
No details were immediately available, but it could be similar to language used in the statement issued in Indonesia at the 2022 summit, which noted that while most countries condemned Russia for the invasion, there was also divergent points of view.
A previous 38-page draft of the final declaration reviewed by Reuters left the “geopolitical situation” paragraph blank, while it agreed on 75 other paragraphs covering issues ranging from global debt and cryptocurrencies to climate change.
At the start of the day, US President Joe Biden and other leaders were driven through deserted streets to a new $300 million conch-shaped convention center called Bharat Mandapam, across the street of a 16th century stone fort, for the summit.
Many businesses, offices and schools were closed in the city and traffic was restricted as part of security measures aimed at ensuring the smooth running of the country’s most important meeting ever. Slums were demolished and monkeys and stray dogs were removed from the streets.
Biden will push for a higher level of climate action at the summit, a White House official said, as concerns grow over a lack of consensus on reducing emissions.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she had asked G20 leaders to join a proposal to establish global carbon pricing. G20 countries account for 80% of global emissions and their views are being closely watched in the run-up to COP 28 in the United Arab Emirates.
Modi, in his opening speech, invited the AU, represented by President Azali Assoumani, to sit as a permanent member.
“This will strengthen the G20 and also strengthen the voice of the South,” said a message posted on Modi’s official account on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The summit is expected to be dominated by the West and its allies. Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend the meeting and has sent Premier Li Qiang in his place, while Russia’s Vladimir Putin will also be absent.
Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Bin Salman and Japan’s Fumio Kishida, among others, are present.
The summit had been seen as a venue for a possible meeting between Xi and Biden after months of efforts by the powers to repair ties deteriorated by trade and geopolitical tensions.
“It is up to the Chinese government to explain” why its leader would or would not participate, Jon Finer, U.S. deputy national security adviser, told reporters in Delhi.
He added that there was speculation that China was “abandoning the G20” in favor of groups like BRICS, where it is dominant.
BRICS includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and has agreed to add six new members – Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates – accelerating their efforts to overhaul a world order they view as outdated.