India hopeful of consensus declaration at Rio G20 Summit

New Delhi: Days ahead of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, India on Wednesday was confident that the Brazilian presidency of the grouping will be able to issue a consensus leaders’ declaration despite complexities related to the conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia.
India will join two of the three pillars of Brazil’s flagship initiative at the G20 Summit, a global alliance against hunger and poverty that will be launched during the inaugural session, foreign secretary Vikram Misri told a media briefing focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation in the meeting during November 18-19.
The global geopolitical situation has become more complicated since the G20 Summit hosted by India last year as the members are dealing with both the conflict in Ukraine and the conflict in West Asia, Misri said while responding to a question on whether the war in West Asia was coming in the way of a consensus leaders’ declaration.
“I imagine that these complex issues of the conflicts that are still on in Ukraine [and] West Asia…are figuring in the discussions. The declaration is being negotiated as we speak but I’m sure we will be able to get a good declaration despite the complexity that is posed by these conflicts that are currently going on,” he said.
India had to resort to complicated diplomacy to forge consensus on the leaders’ declaration at the G20 Summit in New Delhi because of deep divisions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In Brazil, the G20 sherpas worked out a procedure whereby geopolitical language has been removed from ministerial outcome documents, with such matters being dealt with in a chair’s summary.
“However, the leaders’ declaration at the summit is going to be a consolidated consensus document. There is no separate chair’s summary,” Misri said. “Certainly, the New Delhi declaration did set a template for how many of the difficult issues could be approached.”
Extending India’s support for Brazil’s global alliance against hunger and poverty, Misri said this is an initiative open to non-G20 countries, national, regional and international organisations, multilateral development banks and civil society organisations. India will join the national and knowledge pillars of this alliance, he said.
Modi will undertake a three-nation tour from November 16 to participate in the G20 Summit and to bolster bilateral ties with Nigeria and Guyana. He will first travel to Nigeria during November 16-17 at the invitation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
After attending the G20 Summit, Modi will visit Guyana during November 19-21 at the invitation of President Mohamed Irfaan Ali. This will be the first visit to Guyana by an Indian premier since 1968.
Modi is expected to hold several bilateral meetings on the margins of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro and Misri declined to give details, saying they were still being finalised. The G20 Summit will also be special because it is the first being held after the inclusion of the African Union as a full member, he said.
Among the important issues expected to be taken up at the G20 Summit are progress on the sustainable development goals (SDGs), multilateral reforms, tackling environmental and climatic challenges, debt sustainability, bridging the global digital divide, the energy transition and emerging technologies.
Brazil’s priorities “align very well” with the priorities championed by India during its presidency of the G20, including hunger and poverty, reform of multilateral institutions to make them fit for the 21st century and making multilateral development banks more effective, Misri said.
In Nigeria, Modi will have a one-on-one meeting with President Tinubu and hold delegation-level talks to review bilateral ties. They will explore ways to expand and enhance the relationship. The two sides will also sign five agreements for cooperation in culture, geological surveys, digital public infrastructure and customs.
During the visit to Guyana, Modi will hold delegation-level talks with President Ali and address the National Assembly and the diaspora. Indians arrived in Guyana in 1838, and roughly 40% of the population of 800,000 is of Indian-origin. Modi will also co-chair the second India-CARICOM Summit along with the prime minister of Grenada, the current chair of the grouping.