“One Earth. One family. One future.” India searched an ancient Sanskrit text to come up with this motto for the G20 summit. Some words that appear on large posters throughout New Delhi and whose message of unity is far removed from the reality it faces. a summit more divided than ever. But the delegations accompanying the world leaders are optimistic about the progress made in recent hours to produce a joint statement that leaves aside the group’s differences on the issue on which they differ the most: the war in Ukraine.
In the run-up to the marathon of meetings that started on Saturday, there was a lot of noise about whether It could be the first time that there was no final document at a G20 summit. “Moscow will block the final declaration if it does not reflect its position,” was the order launched a few days ago by the Russian envoy to Delhi, the Foreign Minister. Sergey Lavrov. Con Vladimir Putin hidden again in the Kremlin to avoid international scrutiny, there was no doubt that the Russian invasion of Ukraine would mark much of the weekend’s agenda.
The host, the Indian Prime Minister, was very aware of this. Narendra Modi, whose growing geopolitical influence is tested to seek consensus and launch a declaration with a single voice. Although he is not having it easy. While Western leaders are betting on a forceful and harsh condemnation of the Russian attack, the Kremlin finds China’s support for block the diplomatic slap.
The G20 Sherpas – representatives of the countries who monitor the items on the summit agenda throughout the year – have been discussing the document before the leaders began deliberations on Saturday. But so far they have encountered a barrier: Both Moscow and Beijing have rejected all the drafts presented.
From Europe they tried to get the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, was also in Delhi as a guest, or at least appeared by videoconference as happened at the 2022 summit in Bali, when, despite the divisions, the group published a final statement emphasizing the different points of view on the war .