US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has described the G20 declaration agreed in New Delhi on Saturday 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”. Sullivan said the joint statement had several “consequential” paragraphs on the war in Ukraine.
“The G20 statement includes a set of consequential paragraphs on the war in Ukraine,” he told reporters, according to Voice of America (VoA). “And from our perspective, it does a very good job of standing up for the principle that states cannot use force to seek territorial acquisition.”
The consensus came as the group of leaders differed over the Ukraine conflict, with Western nations earlier pushing for condemnation of Russia in the Leaders’ Declaration, while other countries demanded a focus on broader issues. But India managed to hammer out a consensus among the member countries on the contentious issue through a series of hectic negotiations with emerging economies.
The G20 leaders’ declaration avoided mentioning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and made a call to all states to follow the principle of respecting each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. India’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant said the most complex part of the entire G20 was to bring consensus on the geopolitical paras. On social media platform X, he said this was achieved over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings, and 15 drafts.
When asked about the difference of language on the Ukraine conflict with last year’s G20, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar dismissed the comparison between the Bali Declaration and the one signed in New Delhi. “The situation was different. Many things have happened since then. And in fact If you see in the geo-political segment of the leaders declaration, there are, in total, eight paragraphs, seven of which actually focus on the Ukraine issue,” the minister said during a media briefing.
“I think one should not have a theological view of this. I think the New Delhi Declaration responds to the situation and concerns as it is today, just as the Bali Declaration did in a situation which was there a year ago,” he said. The New Delhi G20 Declaration refers only to the “war in Ukraine” and noted with “deep concern the immense human suffering and the adverse impact of wars and conflicts around the world.
In reference to the Ukraine conflict, it also has a line that “there were different views and assessments of the situation.” Asked about this line, Jaishankar said it was only right to record what was the “reality”. “On the phrase about having different viewpoints and assessments, I think we are being transparent. It is a fact, this (Ukraine conflict) is today a very polarising issue,” he said.
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