Defying all doomsday predictions the Group of 20 leaders managed to stitch together a consensus statement on the first of the two-day summit, even as deep divisions were on display with the watered-down stance on the war in Ukraine, experts said.
In the lead-up to the G20 summit on Saturday, and even through a large part of the day, the question on everyone’s mind was whether India, as the G20 president, would manage to bring together a consensus document given the rift between Russia and the West over the continuing war in Ukraine and the fact that China’s President Xi Jinping skipped the summit.
But in a major diplomatic breakthrough, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that world leaders had agreed on a joint declaration.
“It is a most remarkable achievement in a fractured world,” said Ashok Kantha, a former secretary in India’s foreign ministry where he oversaw relations with 65 countries. “It is amazing that G20 2023 Leaders’ Declaration could be finalised on day one of the summit itself, belying all doubts and apprehensions,” he told Al Jazeera.
Seshasayee, who is an Asia-Latin America expert, added that the statement also explicitly stated that the G20 “is not the platform to resolve geopolitical and security issues” and that it is primarily an economic platform. “This dilutes the geopolitical import that New Delhi has so far placed on the group,” he added.
