New Delhi: A number of BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and ASEAN countries have chosen to give the Global Peace Summit being hosted by Switzerland on the Russia-Ukraine war a miss or merely sent observers/envoys.
The list of nations participating in the Peace Summit was released by Switzerland Friday, with a total of 57 Heads of State or Government, 29 ministerial-level delegations and six envoys/observers attending the summit plus the Swiss government.
From the BRICS – a grouping with the following member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates – New Delhi is the only nation to send a ministerial level delegation. The Indian delegation is led by Pavan Kapoor, Secretary (West) and a former ambassador to Russia.
The Peace Summit scheduled to be held in Bürgenstock Resort between 15 and 16 June, is a part of Ukraine’s efforts to build a global coalition to back its peace plans for the war with Russia. It builds on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace proposal first articulated in 2022 at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Bali. Russia has not been invited to attend the summit.
While the Summit has gained support from a large number of countries from Europe and North America, its attendance by countries from Africa and Asia remains minimal. Of the 93 national delegations attending the summit, including host Switzerland, 44 of them are from Europe.
The summit seems to have received little or no support from multilateral fora that Moscow is a part of such as BRICS and the SCO.
Of the members of BRICS for example, China, Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran are not attending the summit, while South Africa and the UAE have chosen to send envoys – the lowest delegation seniority at the peace conference. Brazil has sent an observer delegation.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has remained a steadfast partner of Moscow through the war, with Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting China last month, on his first overseas visit since assuming the presidency for a fifth time. The two countries have seen record levels of bilateral trade since the start of the conflict in February 2022.
Switzerland announced that it sent out invitations to 160-odd Heads of States and Governments and not all members of the United Nations have been invited. However, the number of delegations from Asia for example are minimal, with only 16 attending the summit.
The SCO, another Asian multilateral organisation, which counts Russia, Pakistan, China, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and India as members, has only New Delhi sending a delegation.
A day before the Peace Summit, Putin announced his four conditions for peace including the annexation of Ukrainian territory and Kyiv giving up its aspirations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The conditions were swiftly rejected by Ukraine.
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Minimal participation from Asia, Africa
Zelenskyy had made an appeal to Asian countries to attend the summit during his visit to the Shangri-La dialogue earlier this month in Singapore. The Ukrainian President had accused China of working with Moscow to prevent countries from attending the summit.
From the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – a 10-member bloc consisting of nations from Southeast Asia – Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand have sent delegations. Only Singapore and Bangkok have sent ministerial delegations, while Manilla and Jakarta have sent envoys.
Timor-Leste, an observer and future member of ASEAN, is the only Southeast Asian country whose Head of Government Xanana Gusmāo is attending the summit.
The other ASEAN countries – Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam – do not have any delegation participating in the summit. Cambodia, one of the strongest supporters of Kyiv from the region, is staying away from the summit as it said that the conference would be unsuccessful without Russian representation.
Similarly from West Asia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq are all sending ministerial-level delegations or higher. Israel and the UAE have announced only envoys to represent them at the summit.
About 13 delegations from African nations will be present at the summit, including the Heads of State or Government from Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, and Somalia.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
India itself will have to navigate the expanded BRICS and SCO with care. The distinctly anti West flavour is hard to miss.