New Delhi: India’s theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ during its G20 presidency this year signals the need for “unity and action”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday, as the country hosted foreign ministers of major economies in Delhi as part of the summit.
The ministers were meeting at a time of deep global divisions, Modi said during his video address to the dignitaries. “We must acknowledge that multilateralism is in crisis today,” he added.
During his opening address, Modi said that the experience of the last few years – “financial crisis, pandemic, terror, wars” – showed that “global governance has failed in its mandates”.
“We all have our positions and perspectives on how geopolitical tensions should be resolved,” he said, adding, “As leading economies of the world, we also have a responsibility towards those who are not in this room.”
The Prime Minister said the world looked to the Group of 20 countries to ease challenges of growth, development, financial stability, food and energy security.
“We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can,” Modi said at the second G20 ministerial meeting.
The first meeting of finance chiefs in Bengaluru last month had failed to agree on a statement — both Russia and China declined to sign the joint statement, which criticised Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. India then issued a “chair’s summary and outcome document” in which it summed up the two days of talks and acknowledged disagreements.
The foreign ministers’ meeting is a strong test of India’s diplomacy as it balances its position over the ongoing conflict that is now in its second year.
India has not condemned Russia at any UN resolution, though last year’s G20 summit in Bali issued a joint declaration that echoed Modi’s advice to Russian President Vladimir Putin that “today’s era must not be that of war”.
On Wednesday too, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra emphasised that the G20 foreign ministers should think about the impact, “particularly economic”, that the conflict has inflicted globally.
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