G20 Summit 2023: In a major development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced the adoption of the G20 leaders' declaration after world leaders reached a consensus during the second session of the G20 Summit.
"I have received good news. Due to the hard work of our team, consensus has been built on New Delhi G20 Leaders' Summit Declaration. I announce that this declaration has been adopted. On this occasion, I congratulate my Sherpa, ministers, who worked hard for it and made it possible," he said during the second session of Day 1 of the G20 Summit.
In response to the query that how could a declaration be announced before the conclusion of the summit, sources said that tomorrow's session does not have any discussions related to negotiations and a consensus has already been built among leaders, leading to the declaration being adopted.
Given differences among world leaders over the Russia-Ukraine war, a consensus for the joint final communique was a monumental task and marks a significant achievement for India. As India has the current presidency of the G20, it has the responsibility as the host nation to outline the agenda and build the consensus among world leaders. Its G20 predecessor, Indonesia, had barely managed to do the same last year.
PM Modi's announcement was met with large applause from leaders at the summit. "Today’s era must be marked as the golden age of human-centric globalisation & India’s G20 Presidency under the leadership of PM
Narendra Modi has worked tirelessly towards this goal," tweeted G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant.
Kant further said that the new geopolitical paragraphs in the declaration are a powerful call for "Planet, People, Peace and Prosperity" in today's world.
Why were world leaders divided?
The Russia-Ukraine war has gripped a majority of the countries involved in G20. Russia and its ally China do not want a mention of the former's war with Ukraine on the G20 leaders' declaration proposed by the leaders at the end of the high-level summit. However, the European Union (EU) and other Western countries want Russia to be labelled as an aggressor and call for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
India maintains a neutral position on the conflict, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "this is not an era of war" in previous instances. However, the Ukraine conflict was expected to be a key focus point of the G20 Summit despite the absence of Putin in Delhi.
As per sources, several Western countries have also opted for Russia to be excluded from the G20 bloc. The polarisation over Russia-Ukraine war put additional pressure on India. Russia had already warned of blocking the G20 declaration if it does not reflect Moscow's position on the Ukraine conflict and other issues.
India's G20 presidency has been the most ambitious in history: PM Modi
Further in the second session, the Prime Minister said that India's G20 presidency has been the most ambitious and action-oriented in history.
"India’s G20 Presidency has been the most ambitious in history of G-20. 73 outcomes (lines of effort) and 39 annexed documents (presidency documents, not including Working Group outcome documents). With 112 outcomes and presidency documents, we have more than doubled the substantive work from previous presidencies," he said.
India took over the G20 presidency from Indonesia during last year's summit in Bali and will hand it over to Brazil after this summit concludes.
(with agencies input)
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