G-20 summit kicks off in India amid split over Russian war in Ukraine

The Group of 20 economies began a two-day summit on Saturday in New Delhi, with concerns mounting that attending leaders may fail to reach a consensus on a joint communique due to divisions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As the current chair of the G-20, India has prioritized maintaining amicable relations with Russia and diplomatic sources suggest Prime Minister Narendra Modi, out of consideration for his camaraderie with President Vladimir Putin, may be less inclined to push for a joint statement.

The agenda will cover critical global issues such as energy and food security, impacted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as strategies to boost the world economy, dampened by sharp interest rate hikes in the United States and Europe aimed at curbing high inflation.

The United States and other Group of Seven major economies have also been keen to ensure G-20 unity on sanctions against Russia. India and China, however, as the two most populous nations in the world and significant importers of Russian natural resources, may voice opposition, the sources said.

Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping skipped the G-20 summit, while leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who hosted the G-7 summit in Hiroshima in May, participated.

Russia sent Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to New Delhi on behalf of Putin, whose military is continuing its attacks on Ukraine that began in February 2022.

On Saturday morning, the representatives of the G-20 members entered the summit venue after shaking hands with Modi.

The 21st century is a “crucial time” to show and provide a “new direction” to the world, Modi said in his opening speech at the summit, adding he formally invited the African Union to join the G-20 as an official permanent member.

But without Putin and Xi, the latest G-20 summit could be dominated by the United States and its allies, possibly dividing the group between Western democracies and what they label as autocratic countries, political analysts said.

The G-20 has produced a joint statement at every gathering since its inaugural summit in 2008. Failure to map out one this time would validate skepticism about the framework’s ability to find common ground, they said.

At the previous leaders’ summit on Indonesia’s Bali island in November 2022, G-20 representatives agreed on a joint communique at the last minute by incorporating the positions of both the West and Russia regarding the situation in Ukraine.

In 2023, however, the G-20 fell short of crafting joint statements at several ministerial meetings under India’s presidency, the sources said.

Kishida arrived in New Delhi on Friday after attending a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related gatherings in Jakarta.

The G-20 summit in India comes as tensions between Tokyo and Beijing have been escalating over Japan’s release of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, which started on Aug. 24, China’s import ban on Japanese seafood.

On Wednesday, Kishida held a brief conversation with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Indonesia’s capital. It remains uncertain whether the two will hold bilateral talks in New Delhi.

In addition to the G-7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union — the G-20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey.

By Nadeem Faisal Baiga