G20 summit ends with India, Brazil and Russia boasting success

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
wrapped up Sunday a G20 summit that played down deep divisions over the war
in Ukraine and climate change, but gave him a moment in the diplomatic
spotlight.

G20 leaders have been deeply riven over the Ukraine war since Moscow’s
invasion last year, with Russian President Vladimir Putin skipping the summit
entirely to dodge political opprobrium.

Leaders of the Group of 20, which brings together Russia and China as well as
some of Ukraine’s most ardent backers, have long struggled to agree on much,
in particular about the 18-month-old invasion.

Facing a major diplomatic embarrassment, host India pressed members to agree
a common statement on Saturday that denounced the use of force for
territorial gain, but shied away from direct criticism of Russia.

Kyiv said the G20 had “nothing to be proud of” but Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, who stood in for Putin at the meeting, on Sunday claimed a
diplomatic win.

“We were able to prevent the West’s attempts to ‘Ukrainize’ the summit
agenda,” the veteran diplomat said, dubbing the two-day gathering a
“success”.

“The text doesn’t mention Russia at all.”

On Sunday, Modi formally closed the summit by passing on a ceremonial gavel
to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country will take the
bloc’s presidency in December.

“We cannot let geopolitical issues sequester the G20 agenda of discussions,”
Lula said, an implicit reference to wrangling over the Ukraine war.

“We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead
of conflict.”

Indian civil servant Amitabh Kant wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that
the compromise text on Ukraine had involved “over 200 hours of non-stop
negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings (and) 15 drafts”.

But despite meeting in what the EU’s climate monitor says is likely to be the
hottest year in human history, the leaders failed to agree to a phase-out of
fossil fuels, despite a UN report a day earlier deeming the drawdown
“indispensable” to achieving net-zero emissions.

Instead, they backed a target of tripling global renewable energy capacity by
2030, while committing only to a “phasedown” of coal “in line with national
circumstances”.

G20 members Russia and Saudi Arabia are major oil exporters, while coal
consumption is rising in China and India, already the world’s biggest
consumers of the dirty fuel.

– ‘People’s G20′ –

Modi, who painted the summit as India’s diplomatic coming of age and is
pushing for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, celebrated the
accession of the 55-member African Union to the G20.

As the G20, the grouping included 19 countries and the European Union,
representing 85 percent of the world GDP, with South Africa its only member
state from the continent.

Modi has sought to position New Delhi as a voice for the Global South and the
move turned the grouping into a “people’s G20”.

He also proposed another G20 leaders’ meeting in November by video-link,
opening up the possibility of Puting joining — along with China’s Xi
Jinping, who skipped the summit with the Asian giants at loggerheads over
territorial and other issues.

Lula said Putin would be free to attend next year’s event in Rio de Janeiro,
despite Brazil being a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC),
which has issued a warrant for the Russian leader’s arrest for war crimes.

“If I’m the president of Brazil and if he comes to Brazil, there’s no way
that he will be arrested,” he told Indian news network Firstpost on Saturday.

Others came together on the summit sidelines, with Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan holding face-to-face talks with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday following a decade-long rift between the two
countries.

World leaders had earlier joined Modi to pay their respects to revered Indian
independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, taking off their shoes at the site of his
cremation, where normal footwear is forbidden as a mark of respect.

Like Modi, many walked barefoot at the rain-dampened site — including
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron —
while others including US President Joe Biden opted for slippers.

After a rendition of a Hindu devotional hymn, they stood for a moment’s
silence before leaving wreaths at the marble plinth where an eternal flame
commemorates Gandhi’s memory. (BSS/AFP)