The group of twenty summit concluded today in India, which downplayed the deep divisions over the war in Ukraine and climate change, and strengthened the role of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the diplomatic arena.

 

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Edited by| Paul Mitchel

 

Politic section -  CJ journalist

 

Paris  – September,10,2023

 

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The group of twenty countries has witnessed a split over the war in Ukraine, where the group includes some countries that strongly support Ukraine, recently, as the leaders of the group countries had difficulty agreeing on many things, especially with regard to the invasion that began 18 months ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was absent from the summit to avoid political criticism.

To avoid any diplomatic embarrassment, India, the host of the summit, pressed the members of the group to agree on a joint statement rejecting the "use of force" in Ukraine to achieve gains on the ground, but without specifically mentioning Russia.

Ukraine did not hesitate to criticize the statement, saying: "there is nothing for the group of twenty to be proud of," but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who represented Putin at the meeting, declared Sunday a diplomatic victory.

"We managed to thwart Western attempts to make Ukraine dominate the summit agenda," Lavrov said, calling the two-day meeting "successful" and making clear that "the text does not mention Russia at all". Lavrov pointed out that" the Indian presidency has really succeeded in uniting the participants of the group of twenty, who represent the south of the world, " pointing out that Brazil, South Africa, India and China were able to make their voices heard.

For his part, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the drafting of the text, especially with regard to Ukraine, shows "very good work".

In a post on the "X" platform, Indian official Amitabh Kant, who is one of the leading organizers of the India Summit, said that the consensus text on Ukraine in the final declaration required "more than two hundred hours of continuous negotiations, three hundred bilateral meetings, fifteen draft texts".

Kant noted that Brazil was among the countries, which helped to reach consensus on the paragraph dedicated to Ukraine within the statement.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva explained at the conclusion of the group's summit, which he called"successful", that "we cannot let geopolitical issues dominate the agenda of the group of twenty talks. We have no interest in a divided group of twenty ... We need peace and cooperation instead of conflicts".

Modi handed over the rotating presidency of the group of twenty to Lula on Sunday, confirming his "support" and saying he was sure he would be able to "achieve our common goals".

The next summit is scheduled for November 2024 in Rio de Janeiro.

During an interview broadcast on Saturday evening on the Indian TV channel "firstpassot", Lula confirmed that Putin will receive an invitation to visit the Brazilian city, stressing that he will not be arrested, despite the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in March, which accuses him of war crimes, for the deportation of Ukrainian children.

The Kremlin denies the accusations of the International Criminal Court and asserts that the arrest warrant against the Russian President is "invalid".

Brazil is a signatory to the 1998 Rome Statute, the international treaty that led to the creation of the International Criminal Court in 2002, and therefore theoretically has to arrest the Russian President if he enters its territory.

"I can tell you that if I am the president of Brazil and if he comes to Brazil, there is no reason to arrest him,"Lula stressed .

US President Joe Biden confirmed that he met with Chinese prime minister Li Qiang on the sidelines of the summit, which his counterpart Xi Jinping was absent from.

Biden said during a press conference in Hanoi, "I met the second official" in the government structure of China. "We talked about stability," he added, noting that the meeting was "not at all confrontational".

For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Sunday not to "marginalize" Russia in talks aimed at reviving the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.

He also met face-to-face with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday, on the sidelines of the group of twenty summit, to end a decade of estrangement between the two countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron considered that the climate-related results reached by the group of twenty countries during its summit in India were "insufficient", calling for the need to set more ambitious goals to abandon oil.

The final statement of the leaders of rich and emerging countries who met in New Delhi over the weekend did not call for the elimination of fossil fuels, contrary to the hopes of many observers.

"This is not enough,"Macron stressed. "For my part, I am very concerned about the mentality that has begun to prevail among the member states of the group of twenty on the climate issue," he told reporters, less than three months before the cop28 Conference of the parties, which will be held in Dubai this year.

"I warn everyone that we have not reached our goal," he said, adding that he was hearing "a very easy rhetoric taking root among some emerging countries that only the richer countries bear responsibility". Macron said:" We all have to give up quickly and faster than it is currently, from 2030 and also "as soon as possible from oil before 2050".

"The rich countries have to make an effort, and we are doing it, and its cost is high," he said, "but we are doing it, it is legitimate and natural," calling on emerging countries, especially oil producers, to bear their share of responsibility as well.

German Chancellor Olaf Schulz expressed optimism about the results of the summit, saying that it addressed many topics "important for the further development of the world".

Schultz said that the issue of climate change was among the topics, which were addressed at the talks, adding that "I am very glad that we have not lagged behind here, but we are still ambitious".

With the prospect of 2023 becoming the hottest year on record, the final statement failed to call for the elimination of fossil fuels, but the leaders of the group of twenty countries announced that they would support efforts to triple the global renewable energy capacity by 2030.

 

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