New Delhi: Ahead of the G20 summit, India on Friday said the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration was “almost ready” and the negotiators were moving towards a consensus.
Refusing to get into the specifics of sticking points such as the Russia-Ukraine war and climate-related issues, India’s top G20 officials told a pre-summit press conference that they were hopeful of clinching a joint communique by consensus.
“India’s expectation is that all G20 members will move towards a consensus and we are hopeful of a consensus on the communique,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said in response to a question on the Ukraine conflict holding up an agreement on the New Delhi Declaration.
The G20 Leaders’ Summit gets underway on Saturday and will conclude the next day.
On the inclusion of the African Union in the G20 bloc, Kwatra said he expected that Summit proceedings starting Saturday would take a “suitable decision” on it.
India’s G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a great believer in the Global South and had written to all the leaders on the inclusion of the African Union in the G20.
He said there has been a very positive response and formally that will come before the Summit.
India also said its presidency of the G20 has lived up to Modi’s vision of being inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented and very decisive.
Kant said the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration will be the voice of the global south and developing countries.
Modi had asserted India’s presidency should be inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented and decisive, he said.
“These are the four principles on which we have worked. We have lived up to his vision of being inclusive, action-oriented, ambitious and very decisive during our presidency,” Kant said.
“Our New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration is almost ready, I would not like to dwell on it because this declaration will be recommended to the leaders during the Summit and the leaders will then accept it and only after it is accepted by the leaders, we will be able to talk about the actual achievements of this declaration,” he said.
Over 220 G20-related meetings were held in 60 cities across the country, showcasing India’s diversity and federal structure, Kant said.
The Leaders Summit will comprise three key sessions — One Earth, One Family and One Future besides other side events.
President Droupadi Murmu is hosting a dinner in honour of the G20 leaders on Saturday.
The G20 leaders will visit Raj Ghat to offer tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.
India is set to make a dash for the goal line at the summit in addressing some of the complex global challenges such as concerns of the Global South, consequences of the Ukraine conflict, gloomy economic scenario, and fostering inclusive growth amid a fragmented geopolitical environment.
Modi, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders of the G20 grouping as well as chiefs of many leading world bodies like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are converging in the national capital for the summit.
