G20 Foreign Ministers\' meeting fails to find complete consensus

NEW DELHI: Despite the best efforts of India and some other member countries, the G-20 foreign ministers' meet on Thursday in the national capital failed to achieve a consensus owing to sharp differences over Ukraine between the West on the one hand and Russia and China on the other. No joint communiqué was therefore issued. Instead, as had been done last week at the G-20 finance ministers’ meeting in Bengaluru, a Chairman's Summary and Outcome Document was released by India as the G-20 president.

"We tried hard but could not bridge the differences over Ukraine," external affairs minister S. Jaishankar said. He added that there were differences over only two paragraphs that related to Ukraine and that there had been consensus on "95 per cent" of the issues discussed, which included international development cooperation, efforts to combat climate change, health care, gender equality, food and fertiliser supply chains and the fight against terrorism.

When asked why there was no joint communiqué, Mr Jaishankar said, "If we had a perfect meeting of minds, there would have been a collective statement. There were differences over Ukraine that we could not reconcile between the various parties that had different views."

He said there were "polarised and divergent views" on Ukraine among some of the member nations and that "we were not able to do it (reach a full consensus) today, which we were able to do at Bali (G-20 Summit in November last year)."

Interestingly, the references to Ukraine that were opposed by both Moscow and Beijing also contained the line "today’s era must not be of war", which was the same sentiment expressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Uzbek city of Samarkand last year. It had also found mention in the G-20 Bali Summit joint declaration.

On the Ukraine references, the external affairs minister said: "Whatever was at Bali, we reiterated. We tried very hard. We were not able to bridge the gap." He, however, reiterated that the Outcome Document released reflected the commitment of the G-20 to face various challenges. "It was a good day’s work," he said, referring to the deliberations.

On the paragraphs regarding Ukraine, on which there was no consensus, the Chair’s Summary and Outcome Document released by India said, "Paragraphs 3 and 4 of this document, as taken from the G-20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration (November 15-16, 2022), were agreed to by all member countries except Russia and China." This obviously means that Russia and China again opposed the same references to Ukraine that they had agreed to during the Bali Summit. When asked why this was the case, Mr Jaishankar said some G-20 members felt "there cannot be extrapolation" and that "lots of incidents had taken place after the Bali Summit".

Paragraph 3 stated: "The war in Ukraine has further adversely impacted the global economy. There was a discussion on the issue. We reiterated our national positions as expressed in other fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly... deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine. Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy…"

Paragraph 4 stated: "It is essential to uphold international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability. This includes defending all the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and adhering to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and infrastructure in armed conflicts. The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts and efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today's era must not be of war."

The G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting on Thursday was held in two sessions. The first session on Thursday morning was on "Strengthening Multilateralism and Need for Reforms, Food and Energy Security and Development Cooperation". The second session in the afternoon was on "Counter-Terrorism: New and Emerging Threats, Global Skill Mapping and Talent Pool and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief".

The Chair’s Summary and Outcome Document stated: "The G-20 foreign ministers deliberated upon current global challenges... We are deeply concerned by the challenges to global food security exacerbated by current conflicts and tensions. Promoting the availability, accessibility, affordability, sustainability, equity and transparent flow of food and agricultural products, including fertilisers, in all corners of the globe to fight hunger and malnutrition, is the need of the hour. Supply chains of both food and agricultural products, including fertilisers, should be kept reliable, open and transparent."

The G-20, or Group of Twenty, is an "intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies and comprises 19 countries. Apart from the foreign ministers of the member nations, foreign ministers of several guest countries, including Bangladesh, Egypt and the Netherlands, also attended the meeting, along with representatives of some international organisations.