Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that consensus has been achieved on New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Summit Declaration on the the first day of the G20 Summit in New Delhi.
“Due to the hard work of our teams and the cooperation of all of you, the New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Summit Declaration has gained consensus. It’s my proposal that we should adopt this Leaders’ Declaration. I declare to adopt this Declaration,” the PM said.
The New Delhi Leaders Declaration was “almost ready” and the negotiators were heading towards a consensus, India stated on Friday, ahead of the G20 summit. India’s top G20 officials stated at a pre-summit press briefing that they were optimistic of reaching a unified declaration by agreement but declined to go into detail about contentious matters including the Russia-Ukraine war and climate-related concerns.
“India’s expectation is that all G20 members will move towards a consensus and we are hopeful of a consensus on the communique,” PTI had quoted Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra as saying, in response to a question on the Ukraine conflict holding up an agreement on the New Delhi Declaration.
On the inclusion of the African Union in the G20 bloc, Kwatra said he expected that Summit proceedings starting Saturday would take a “suitable decision on it.
India’s G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a great believer in the Global South and had written to all the leaders on the inclusion of the African Union in the G20.
He said there has been a very positive response and formally that will come before the Summit.
India also said its presidency of the G20 has lived up to Modi’s vision of being inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented and very decisive.
Kant said the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration will be the voice of the global south and developing countries.
Modi had asserted India’s presidency should be inclusive, ambitious, action- oriented and decisive, he said.
“These are the four principles on which we have worked. We have lived up to his vision of being inclusive, action-oriented, ambitious and very decisive during our presidency,” Kant said.
“Our New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration is almost ready, I would not like to dwell on it because this declaration will be recommended to the leaders during the Summit and the leaders will then accept it and only after it is accepted by the leaders, we will be able to talk about the actual achievements of this declaration,” he said.
Over 220 G20-related meetings were held in 60 cities across the country, showcasing India’s diversity and federal structure, Kant said.
The Leaders Summit will comprise three key sessions – One Family and One Future besides other side events.
President Droupadi Murmu is also hosting a dinner in honour of the G20 leaders on Saturday
The G20 leaders will visit Raj Ghat to offer tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.
India plans to make a strong run for the finish line at the summit by tackling some of the more difficult global issues, like the problems facing the Global South, the effects of the conflict in Ukraine, the bleak economic outlook, and promoting inclusive growth in a fractured geopolitical context.
For the summit, leaders from the G20 grouping as well as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are gathering in the nation’s capital, including Modi, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and other leaders.
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