India's Minister of External Affairs responds to criticism of the G20 Leadership Declaration's silence on Russia and ambiguous language regarding the war in the Ukraine.
The New Delhi G20 Leadership Declaration, which urged for peace in Ukraine, was discussed by India's Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar on Saturday. Despite being praised for having "100% consensus" and being "historic," the proclamation drew criticism for failing to mention Russia and for referring to the conflict as one "in Ukraine" rather than "against Ukraine."
For India's G20 presidency, the New Delhi Declaration is viewed as a big victory. Its adoption demonstrated that members, despite rising tensions and opposing viewpoints over the Ukraine war, were able to forge a consensus.
He also noted that while the G20 is not the forum to address geopolitical and security issues, the leaders realised that they can have substantial repercussions for the world economy. He was speaking during a news conference on the outcomes of the G20 Summit.
Jaishankar added that they focused particularly on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and its effects, particularly on underdeveloped and least developed countries still recovering from the pandemic and economic dislocation.
Regarding the language change on the Russia-Ukraine conflict from the Bali Declaration, Jaishankar said in response to a question, "Bali was Bali, New Delhi is Delhi. Since the Bali Declaration, many things have occurred.
"A theological perspective on this is inappropriate. The New Delhi Declaration offers a response to the current predicament. In the same way that the Bali Declaration addressed such issues, the New Delhi Declaration does the same for today.
"We reiterated our national positions as expressed in other fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly," the G20 Bali Leaders' Declaration from last year read.
which, in Resolution No. ES-11/1 dated 2 March 2022, as adopted by majority vote (141 votes in favour, 5 votes against, 35 abstentions, and 12 absent), strongly condemns the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine and calls for its unconditional complete withdrawal from Ukrainian territory.
Along with it, it had stated that "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine."
Jaishankar also addressed the issue of how challenging it was to reach agreement on the Ukraine conflict. "This is a declaration of 83 paragraphs; there are many topics covered, but obviously because of the ongoing conflict and the differing views on it, considerable time was spent in the last few days with regard to geopolitical issues, most of which were focused on the war in Ukraine," he stated.
When asked which nations contributed to the development of an agreement on the Ukraine crisis, Jaishankar responded, "Actually... Everyone helped. Everyone came together to establish a consensus, but emerging markets took the initiative in this area in particular because many of us have a long history of cooperating. Keep in mind that Indonesia, the United States, Brazil, and South Africa will be the next four developing nations to hold the G20 presidency.
In reaction to the Delhi Declaration, Ukraine
The G20's joint statement was condemned by the Ukrainian foreign ministry on Saturday as being "nothing to be proud of" and failing to name Russia.
Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, shared a screenshot of the pertinent section of the joint statement with many passages redacted and replaced with language that more accurately reflected Ukraine's position that it was the victim of unprovoked Russian assault.
He stated on Facebook that it was obvious that the Ukrainian side's participation (at the G20 conference) would have improved the participants' comprehension of the circumstance.
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