Delhi declaration adopted
FROM PAGE 1
“Friends, we have just got good news. With the hard work of our teams, and with the cooperation of you all, there is consensus on the New Delhi G20 Summit Leaders Declaration,” Modi said in a brief televised statement during the second session of the summit, speaking in Hindi.
Ukraine,meanwhile, criticised the G20 leaders’ statement.
“Ukraine is grateful to the partners who tried to include strong wording in the text. At the same time, in terms of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the Group of 20 has nothing to be proud of,” said Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesman at the Ukrainian foreign affairs ministry, according to AFP.
Nikolenko posted a photo of a part of the statement edited in red, changing “the war in Ukraine” to “the war against Ukraine” and adding references to Russia.
The document had said that “all states” should “refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state”.
There was no explicit reference to Russia, unlike in a G20 statement in Bali last year that cited a UN resolution condemning “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine”.
“It’s obvious that the Ukraine’s participation (in the meeting) would allow the participants to better understand the situation,” Nikolenko said.
Doing a delicate balancing act, the Indian text on Ukraine said G20 is not a platform to resolve geopolitical and security issues, in an indirect reference to the ongoing conflict but conceded that the war has led to human suffering and impacted global supply chains.
Reconciling divergent views on the Ukraine issue, the declaration says the G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation “and recognises that while the G20 is not the platform to resolve geopolitical and security issues, we acknowledge that these issues can have significant consequences for the global economy.”
While the West and the EU had earlier wanted a reference to the Ukraine conflict, Russia had firmly opposed naming it in the G20 declaration.
As shared by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the adopted New Delhi declaration says on Ukraine: “Concerning the war in Ukraine, while recalling the discussion in Bali (during the previous G20 summit last year), we reiterated our national positions and resolutions adopted at the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly and underscored that all states must act in a manner consistent with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in its entirety.
“In line with the UN Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state. The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible,” it said.
The declaration read, “We highlighted the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation and growth, which has complicated the policy environment for countries, especially developing and least developed countries which are still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic disruption which has derailed progress towards the SDGs. There were different views and assessments of the situation.”
“We call on all states to uphold the principles of international law including territorial integrity and sovereignty, international humanitarian law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability. The peaceful resolution of conflicts and efforts to address crises as well as diplomacy and dialogue are critical. We will unite in our endeavour to address the adverse impact of the war on the global economy and welcome all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace in Ukraine that will uphold all the purposes and principles of the UN Charter for the promotion of peaceful, friendly, and good neighbourly relations among nations in the spirit of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’,” according to the declaration.
“Today’s era must not be of war,” a resolution of the declaration read.