New Delhi, November 16
The G20’s Bali Declaration on Wednesday reflected differences among its members with India playing an important role in ensuring that all points of view were incorporated, said Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra.
“India played a key role in the successful negotiations of the outcome documenthellip; PM’s message that this is not the era of war, and that the best way is to return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy resonated deeply and contributed to the successful outcome of the document,” he said.
Indonesian President Widodo told the media there were apprehensions whether the members would even agree to a common document. As a way of finding a middle ground, the Declaration recognised that G20 was not the forum to resolve security issues but added that “security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy”.
Reflecting the divisions within, the Declaration said: “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy”. But it also acknowledged that “there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions.” The Declaration read: “It is essential to uphold international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability” but did not identify the rule breaker.
It expressed deep concern over the challenges to global food security “exacerbated by current conflicts and tensions” and welcomed the Russia-Turkey-UN deal on allowing the export of Ukrainian grain. It expressed its firm opposition to threat of use of nuclear weapons and sought “peaceful resolution of conflicts”. Its 52 paras also covered climate change, food and energy security, corruption and Covid vaccination.
The G20 called for international collaboration to develop digital literacy and harness the positive impacts of “digital transformation” — the theme of one of three working sessions of the summit at which PM Modi had called for inclusivity to advance digital transformation.
