Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded on Sunday a G20 summit described as a success in particular by Russia and Brazil, which will host the next edition in Rio de Janeiro.
India, this year’s host country, succeeded in having a joint declaration adopted, which denounced the use of force for the purpose of territorial conquest, but refrained from directly criticizing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
If Kiev had affirmed on Saturday, by the voice of a spokesperson for its Foreign Ministry, that “the G20 has nothing to be proud of”, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, estimated for his share on Sunday that “the summit is undoubtedly a success”.
“We were able to thwart the attempts of the West to Ukrainianize the agenda of the summit”, welcomed during a press conference in New Delhi Mr. Lavrov, who took the Russian delegation in the absence of President Vladimir Putin. “The text does not mention Russia at all.”
“The Indian presidency has really succeeded in uniting the G20 participants representing the Global South,” Lavrov added, suggesting that Brazil, South Africa, India and China have been able to make their voices heard.
According to a post on bilateral meetings (and) 15 drafts” of text.
Mr. Kant highlighted the role played by Brazil, among others, in the development of this compromise.
“We cannot let geopolitical issues block the agenda of the G20 discussions,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva argued during the last session of the summit, which he described as “successful”.
“We have no interest in the G20 being divided. We need peace and cooperation instead of conflict,” he added.
Mr. Modi symbolically handed over the gavel of the rotating presidency of the G20 to Lula on Sunday, assuring him of his “support” and saying he was certain that he would be able to “advance our common objectives”.
The next summit is scheduled to be held in November 2024 in Rio de Janeiro.
During an interview broadcast on Saturday evening on the Indian television channel Firstpost, Lula assured that Mr. Putin would receive an invitation, ensuring that he would not be arrested there, despite a warrant for his arrest. International Criminal Court (ICC) issued in March, which accuses the Russian president of war crimes for the deportation of Ukrainian children.
The Kremlin denies these accusations, deeming the arrest warrant “void”, but Brazil, signatory to the Rome Statute of 1998, the international treaty which led to the creation of the ICC in 2002, should theoretically arrest him if he entered its territory.
“I can tell you that if I am president of Brazil and if he comes to Brazil, there is no reason for him to be arrested,” assured Lula.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his part called on Sunday, at the end of the summit, not to “marginalize” Russia in the talks to relaunch the agreement on the export of Ukrainian cereals via the Black Sea.
He also had a bilateral meeting on Sunday with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, sealing the end of a decade of estrangement between the two countries.
Beyond Ukraine, the G20 countries are also divided on the future of oil.
With 2023 on track to become the hottest year on record, the final declaration failed to call for a shift away from fossil fuels, even as it supports the goal of tripling renewables for the first time by 2030.
“It’s insufficient,” acknowledged French President Emmanuel Macron, who “alert everyone” to the need to set more ambitious goals, including the exit from oil.
10/09/2023 16:20:06 – New Delhi (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
