Amid Gaza war, India to host virtual G20 meeting today | News from India
While Russian President Vladimir Putin will make an appearance at the G20 for the first time in at least two years, US President Joe Biden will not attend because of Thanksgiving and will be represented by the Treasury Secretary. Janet Yellen.
It will also be the first time that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will come face to face, albeit virtually, with Prime Minister Modi following the bitter diplomatic standoff between the two countries days after his return to Ottawa from India in September . China will be represented by the Prime Minister Li Qiang because President Xi Jinping will once again be missing.
Although India will push for the development agenda to take center stage, officials are not ruling out the possibility that the war between Israel and Hamas could be a key topic of discussion.
“Since we successfully hosted the G20 Leaders’ Summit, the world has witnessed a succession of events and several new challenges have emerged. Even though development will be at the heart of the agenda and we will focus on the issue of development, the leaders may discuss other issues,” Indian Sherpa Amitabh Kant told reporters.
Secretary of Foreign Affairs Vinay Kwatra said it would not be appropriate to prejudge the issues that will be discussed by the leaders, as Indian officials listed progress on several issues since the September summit.
“The Prime Minister will host G20 leaders in just over two months. This is something very rare and rather exceptional. No other presidency has held a physical meeting of all leaders and then a virtual meeting. In addition to all this, the Prime Minister hosted two sessions of the Voice of the Global South. In fact, India has organized four such meetings in a single year with the participation of over 150 world leaders, which clearly demonstrates the Prime Minister’s convening power and leadership at the global level,” Kant said.
India achieved a rare consensus at the G20 summit in September, against the backdrop of the Russo-Ukrainian war – an issue that threatened to drive a wedge between developed and emerging economies.
New Delhi is currently working on implementing the issues agreed by the leaders at the summit. Substantial progress has been made on several issues, including climate finance, reform of multilateral development banks, and work to create a framework for ethical artificial intelligence based on UNESCO principles.
Gn world
