Modi Magic' led to G20 consensus

NEW DELHI: A combination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee and “magic” helped get a strong consensus at the G20 Summit, government sources said on Sunday, referring to the total unanimity among member nations on the Delhi Declaration. India managed to hammer out an unexpected consensus among the G20 nations on the contentious Ukraine conflict through a series of hectic negotiations with emerging economies such as Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia, playing a leading role in reaching the agreement on the declaration. The Declaration reflects “47 sub-consensus” in a range of issues, which were agreed upon by all nations, sources said. Overall, the outcome at the G20 summit demonstrated India and its leadership abilities as a “junction box of democratic values”, the sources said. “It is a convergent consensus rather than a divisive consensus,” said a source, noting the declaration reflected a stability.

“The story ofthe consensus is a remarkable one and the overall approach in the document reflected a larger context. The paragraphs relating to the Ukraine conflict are much more than transactional. That is why the external affairs minister said Bali is Bali and New Delhi is New Delhi,” the source said. Looking at the New Delhi Declaration in the context of the G20 Bali Declaration is a very transactional way of assessing the crisis, according to sources. Asked whether China created problems for the negotiators, sources said that was not the case, and India followed an inclusive approach, focused on taking along everyone.