The meeting of finance ministers and G20 central bank governors ended without consensus due to the countries’ differing positions on the war in Ukraine. After two days of talks, there was still no final statement. Instead, host India was forced to issue the summary of the meeting as the final document.
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters the reason for the statement was that “we still don’t have a common language on Russia’s war with Ukraine.”
Nirmala Sitharaman said the language describing the war was taken directly from the statement from last year’s G20 summit in Indonesia. “We have no mandate to change that,” she said, adding that leaders would have to decide when they meet for the main summit in the capital, New Delhi, in September.
According to the summary, China and Russia objected to paragraphs related to the war, which they say is causing “immense human suffering” and “exacerbating existing weaknesses in the global economy.” The wording was taken from the previous statement in Indonesia, in which leaders strongly condemned the war.
As host, India used the presidency to position itself as a rising superpower and voice of the global South. Still, disagreement over Russia’s war in Ukraine has cast a shadow over many negotiations, as India has not been able to issue a communiqué after a major meeting since assuming the G20 presidency.
India’s longstanding relationship with Russia has also come to light as the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine continues despite efforts by the United States and allied countries to sanction and economically weaken Russia’s economy. India is not joining efforts to punish Russia and is maintaining its energy ties despite a price cap on Russian oil agreed by the Group of Seven, which has had some success in slowing Russia’s economy. Source: Associated Press.