2023-09-08 09:09:05
NEW DELHI (AP) — It has never been easy for leaders of the world’s largest economies to find a common denominator, but the global ramifications of Russia’s war in Ukraine pose an even greater challenge to reaching a meaningful agreement at the Group’s summit. of this year’s Twenty.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the host on this occasion, has promised not to let Ukraine overshadow the needs of the countries of the so-called Global South, mostly developing, but many of these problems are closely related to war.
“New Delhi will not want to divert attention from the main agenda, which addresses issues of concern to the Global South,” said Nazia Hussain, a research associate at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
“So while there will be debates on issues emerging as a consequence of war – supply chain security and decoupling, energy security and food supply – the focus must remain on how to mitigate the consequences rather than on debating the geopolitical and security aspects of the war”.
But that task was complicated even before the leaders arrived at the summit.
Russia and China, which has been Moscow’s most important support during the war, have blocked attempts to reach a final communiqué over their objections to the wording on Ukraine, the same one they signed a year ago at the G20 summit in Bali that It said that “the majority of members strongly condemn the war.”
The European Union, for its part, stated that the compromise text suggested in India is not strong enough to accept.
However, European Council President Charles Michel told reporters on Friday that it was important to leave room for India to work “actively, sometimes probably discreetly, to maximize the opportunity for a statement.”
Russia isolated itself from the world with the invasion of Ukraine and the EU and others were working to “encourage China to play a positive role globally and to defend the United Nations Charter and defend the sovereignty of Ukraine,” Michel added.
If the leaders do not unblock the situation, it might be the first time that the group’s summit ends without a statement, which would tarnish the image Modi is trying to project to the world.
Last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participated by video conference in the Bali summit, but Modi did not invite him to it.
Despite this, the White House has indicated that US President Joe Biden’s agenda includes “mitigating the economic and social impacts of Putin’s war in Ukraine.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to Zelenskyy to keep Ukraine present in the discussions, telling him during a video call that the two posted on Instagram: “I am disappointed that it was not included but, as you know, we will speak forcefully for you”.
Founded in 1999, the G20 was initially the answer to global economic challenges, but geopolitical tensions have since introduced more politics into its discussions, complicating its ability to work effectively, said Ian Lesser, vice president of the German Marshall. Fund and director of the study center’s office in Brussels.
The G20 combines the world’s richest economies with the Group of Seven and is made up of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, Germany and the European Union as a bloc, as well as Russia and China, among others.
Moscow’s attack on Kiev and Beijing’s growing aggressiveness in the Asia-Pacific region have led to new tensions, diplomatically and directly confronting some of the most powerful countries in the G20, Lesser noted.
“Having China and Russia in the same room now is a different issue than it would have been a decade ago,” he added. “It is now very difficult for any of these large-scale summits to avoid the big issues of the day, and these big issues are very divisive — the war in Ukraine, tensions in the Indo-Pacific and even climate policy — the “things that are at the same time at the top of the global agenda but that are also very difficult to address.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will not travel to New Delhi, but will instead send lower-ranking officials.
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