G20 Summit ends with India, Brazil and Russia boasting success

By AFP

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up Sunday a G20 summit that performed down deep divisions over the struggle in Ukraine and local weather change, however gave him a second within the diplomatic highlight.

G20 nations have been riven over the Ukraine struggle since Moscow’s invasion final yr, with Russian President Vladimir Putin skipping the summit completely to dodge political opprobrium.

Leaders of the Group of 20, which brings collectively Russia and China in addition to a few of Ukraine’s most ardent backers, have lately struggled to agree on a lot, specifically concerning the 18-month-old invasion.

Facing a significant diplomatic embarrassment, host India pressed members to agree a standard assertion on Saturday that denounced using power for territorial achieve, however shied away from direct criticism of Russia.

Kyiv stated the G20 had “nothing to be proud of” however Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who stood in for Putin on the assembly, on Sunday claimed a diplomatic win.

“We were able to prevent the West’s attempts to ‘Ukrainize’ the summit agenda,” the veteran diplomat stated, dubbing the two-day gathering a “success”.

“The text doesn’t mention Russia at all.”

On Sunday, Modi formally closed the summit by passing on a ceremonial gavel to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose nation will take the bloc’s presidency in December.

“We cannot let geopolitical issues sequester the G20 agenda of discussions,” Lula stated, an implicit reference to wrangling over the Ukraine struggle.

“We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead of conflict.”

Indian civil servant Amitabh Kant wrote on X, previously often known as Twitter, that the compromise textual content on Ukraine had concerned “over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings (and) 15 drafts”.

But regardless of assembly in what the EU’s local weather monitor says is more likely to be the most well liked yr in human historical past, the leaders didn’t comply with a phase-out of fossil fuels, regardless of a UN report a day earlier deeming the drawdown “indispensable” to attaining net-zero emissions.

Instead, they backed a goal of tripling world renewable power capability by 2030, whereas committing solely to a “phasedown” of coal “in line with national circumstances”.

G20 members Russia and Saudi Arabia are main oil exporters, whereas coal consumption is rising in China and India, already the world’s largest customers of the soiled gasoline.

The local weather outcomes had been “insufficient”, French President Emmanuel Macron stated Sunday, saying the world should “phase out coal very rapidly and much more quickly than today”.

READ STORIES RELATED TO G20 SUMMIT HERE

‘People’s G20’
Modi, who painted the summit as India’s diplomatic coming of age and is pushing for a everlasting seat on the UN Security Council, celebrated the accession of the 55-member African Union to the G20.

As the G20, the grouping included 19 international locations and the European Union, representing 85 % of the world GDP, with South Africa its solely member state from the continent.

Modi has sought to place New Delhi as a voice for the Global South and the transfer turned the grouping right into a “people’s G20”.

He additionally proposed one other G20 leaders’ assembly in November by video-link, opening up the opportunity of Putin becoming a member of — together with China’s Xi Jinping, who skipped the summit with the Asian giants at loggerheads over territorial and different points.

Lula stated Putin can be free to attend subsequent yr’s occasion in Rio de Janeiro, regardless of Brazil being a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued a warrant for the Russian chief’s arrest for struggle crimes.

“If I’m the president of Brazil and if he comes to Brazil, there’s no way that he will be arrested,” he advised Indian information community Firstpost on Saturday.

Others got here collectively on the summit sidelines, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan holding face-to-face talks along with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday following a decade-long rift between the 2 international locations.

World leaders had earlier joined Modi to pay their respects to revered Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, taking off their sneakers on the web site of his cremation, the place regular footwear is forbidden as a mark of respect.

Like Modi, many walked barefoot on the rain-dampened web site — together with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Macron — whereas others together with US President Joe Biden opted for slippers.

After a rendition of a Hindu devotional hymn, they stood for a second’s silence earlier than leaving wreaths on the marble plinth the place an everlasting flame commemorates Gandhi’s reminiscence.

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up Sunday a G20 summit that performed down deep divisions over the struggle in Ukraine and local weather change, however gave him a second within the diplomatic highlight.

G20 nations have been riven over the Ukraine struggle since Moscow’s invasion final yr, with Russian President Vladimir Putin skipping the summit completely to dodge political opprobrium.

Leaders of the Group of 20, which brings collectively Russia and China in addition to a few of Ukraine’s most ardent backers, have lately struggled to agree on a lot, specifically concerning the 18-month-old invasion.googletag.cmd.push(perform() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

Facing a significant diplomatic embarrassment, host India pressed members to agree a standard assertion on Saturday that denounced using power for territorial achieve, however shied away from direct criticism of Russia.

Kyiv stated the G20 had “nothing to be proud of” however Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who stood in for Putin on the assembly, on Sunday claimed a diplomatic win.

“We were able to prevent the West’s attempts to ‘Ukrainize’ the summit agenda,” the veteran diplomat stated, dubbing the two-day gathering a “success”.

“The text doesn’t mention Russia at all.”

On Sunday, Modi formally closed the summit by passing on a ceremonial gavel to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose nation will take the bloc’s presidency in December.

“We cannot let geopolitical issues sequester the G20 agenda of discussions,” Lula stated, an implicit reference to wrangling over the Ukraine struggle.

“We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead of conflict.”

Indian civil servant Amitabh Kant wrote on X, previously often known as Twitter, that the compromise textual content on Ukraine had concerned “over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings (and) 15 drafts”.

But regardless of assembly in what the EU’s local weather monitor says is more likely to be the most well liked yr in human historical past, the leaders didn’t comply with a phase-out of fossil fuels, regardless of a UN report a day earlier deeming the drawdown “indispensable” to attaining net-zero emissions.

Instead, they backed a goal of tripling world renewable power capability by 2030, whereas committing solely to a “phasedown” of coal “in line with national circumstances”.

G20 members Russia and Saudi Arabia are main oil exporters, whereas coal consumption is rising in China and India, already the world’s largest customers of the soiled gasoline.

The local weather outcomes had been “insufficient”, French President Emmanuel Macron stated Sunday, saying the world should “phase out coal very rapidly and much more quickly than today”.

READ STORIES RELATED TO G20 SUMMIT HERE

‘People’s G20′
Modi, who painted the summit as India’s diplomatic coming of age and is pushing for a everlasting seat on the UN Security Council, celebrated the accession of the 55-member African Union to the G20.

As the G20, the grouping included 19 international locations and the European Union, representing 85 % of the world GDP, with South Africa its solely member state from the continent.

Modi has sought to place New Delhi as a voice for the Global South and the transfer turned the grouping right into a “people’s G20”.

He additionally proposed one other G20 leaders’ assembly in November by video-link, opening up the opportunity of Putin becoming a member of — together with China’s Xi Jinping, who skipped the summit with the Asian giants at loggerheads over territorial and different points.

Lula stated Putin can be free to attend subsequent yr’s occasion in Rio de Janeiro, regardless of Brazil being a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued a warrant for the Russian chief’s arrest for struggle crimes.

“If I’m the president of Brazil and if he comes to Brazil, there’s no way that he will be arrested,” he advised Indian information community Firstpost on Saturday.

Others got here collectively on the summit sidelines, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan holding face-to-face talks along with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday following a decade-long rift between the 2 international locations.

World leaders had earlier joined Modi to pay their respects to revered Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, taking off their sneakers on the web site of his cremation, the place regular footwear is forbidden as a mark of respect.

Like Modi, many walked barefoot on the rain-dampened web site — together with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Macron — whereas others together with US President Joe Biden opted for slippers.

After a rendition of a Hindu devotional hymn, they stood for a second’s silence earlier than leaving wreaths on the marble plinth the place an everlasting flame commemorates Gandhi’s reminiscence.