India issued a “chairman brief” stating that “most members strongly condemn the war in Ukraine”.
Bangalore:
G20 finance ministers on Saturday failed to agree a joint statement on the global economy at talks in India, after China sought to downplay references to the Ukraine war .
Instead, the current G20 president, India, issued a “chairman’s summary” stating that “most members strongly condemn the war in Ukraine” and that there are “different assessments”. each other on the situation and sanctions” at the two-day meeting in Bengaluru.
A footnote said two paragraphs in the summary of the war, believed to be an adaptation of the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration in November, “were agreed to by all member states except Russia and China.” “.
Spain’s representative Nadia Calvino earlier said that due to the “less constructive” approach of an unspecified number of countries at the talks between the world’s top 20 economies, the unification about a statement as “difficult”.
China wants to change the language of the statement from November, officials told AFP, with one saying on condition of anonymity that Beijing wanted to remove the word “war”.
Previous meetings of G20 finance ministers and central bankers have also failed to produce a joint communique since Russia, a member of the group, invaded the neighboring country last February.
Senior Indian official Ajay Seth said the representatives of China and Russia did not want to sign the Ukraine clause because “their mission is to solve economic and financial problems”.
“On the other hand, all 18 other countries feel that war has an impact on the global economy” and should be mentioned, Seth said in a closing press conference.
China has sought to remain neutral in the conflict while maintaining close ties with strategic ally Russia.
State news agency Xinhua quoted top diplomat Wang Yi on Wednesday as saying China was willing to “strengthen strategic coordination” with Russia after meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
On Friday, the one-year anniversary of the invasion, China published a 12-point article calling for a “political solution” to the crisis that has been met with skepticism from Ukraine’s allies.
The G20 host, India, also refused to condemn Russia, New Delhi’s biggest arms supplier and has been India’s main source of oil since the invasion.
Western countries – including the United States, Germany and France – have insisted the language in any joint statement cannot be weaker than the one issued by the G20 leaders in Indonesia in November.
“This is a war. And this war has a cause, there is a cause, it’s Russia and Vladimir Putin. That must be made clear at this G20 financial meeting,” the German finance minister said. Christian Lindner speaks during a press conference on Friday.
debt forgiveness
India’s summary document says the global economic outlook has “modestly improved”, although overall growth remains “slow” and risks remain including rising inflation, pandemic outbreak resurgence and high debt in many poorer countries.
On climate change, it stressed the importance of meeting “fully as soon as possible” the developed countries’ commitment to mobilize $100 billion in climate finance annually through 2025 for climate change projects. poorer countries.
The meeting also focused on debt relief for poor countries suffering from soaring inflation because of the war, amid differences in how China and the West provide.
Western officials want China to “cut off” loans to indebted nations, but Beijing says multilateral lenders including the World Bank should do the same.
India’s summary states that “enhanced multilateral coordination by official bilateral and private creditors” is needed. Delegates said agreeing to this wording was a success.
“Last summer in Bali, we discussed for three days the wording of a joint communique and we discussed nothing there. This time we discussed,” said one negotiator. said.
International Monetary Fund director Kristalina Georgieva called it a “very good meeting”, praising the Indian president for focusing “on the really important issues” like inflation and debt.
Other topics include efforts to levy a global tax on tech giants, and expanding the scope of remittances by multilateral development banks like the World Bank to help countries affected by the pandemic. climate change and cryptocurrencies.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
