India wins praise from US, Russia for its leadership of G20 summit

India won praise from both the US and Russia for its leadership of the G20 Summit and for tactfully handling many contentious issues.

Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Adviser said the joint statement was as a “significant milestone for India’s chairmanship and a vote of confidence that the G20 can come together to address a pressing range of issues”. The joint statement included many ‘consequential’ paragraphs relating to the situation in Ukraine, he said.

Russia praised the G20 Summit Declaration for its stance on the war in Ukraine and said its leaders acted in the interest of conflict resolution.

Svetlana Lukash, Russia’s G20 Sherpa told a Russian news agency that despite difficulties on Ukraine, the outcome was balanced. “There were very difficult negotiations on the Ukraine issue; first of all, the collective position of the BRICS countries and partners worked, everything was reflected in a balanced form,” Lukash said.

She described it as one of the “most difficult G20 summits in the almost 21-year history of the forum” and because of difference on positions in key issues like “climate change and the transition to low-carbon energy systems” it took “almost 20 days” to agree on the declaration.

“This was not only due to some disagreements on the Ukraine subject, but also due to differences in positions on all key issues, primarily the issues of climate change and the transition to low-carbon energy systems,” pointed out Lukash.

The western nations wanted the joint declaration to condemn Russia, but the final New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration termed it as the “war in Ukraine,” and not “the war against Ukraine,” as happened in the 2022 G20 Bali declaration.

The New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration called for a “comprehensive, just, and durable peace in Ukraine”; it mentioned ‘Ukraine’ four times, and emphasised that today’s era is not an era of war. The declaration does not criticise anyone, but urges all to actively participate in restoring peace in the region and refrain from the threat, or use of force to seek territorial acquisition.

Amitabh Kant, the Indian G20 Sherpa pointed out that the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration “has 83 paras in all and all 83 paras have 100 percent consensus among all countries. All countries have unanimously agreed to the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration and is a complete statement with 100 per cent unanimity.”

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