IRIA News

Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 (G20) gathered on March 2, 2023, In the second high-level ministerial meeting of this year in New Delhi under the presidency of Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

The main event ended without a joint statement particularly due to the divergences of opinion on the war in Ukraine. However, India presented its own summary of the discussion. India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told reporters that a joint final declaration was not adopted because of “polarized views of some countries.”

Hosting top diplomats from the world’s largest economies at times when tensions are rising between the U.S., China, and Russia, proved to be a test of India’s diplomacy. India has declined to blame Russia for the war, seeking a diplomatic solution and sharply boosting its purchases of Russian oil.

Met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on sidelines of #G20FMM this afternoon.

Our discussions were focused on addressing current challenges to the bilateral relationship, especially peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

We also spoke about the G20 agenda. pic.twitter.com/omGsuuznba

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) March 2, 2023

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi opened the meeting with a video address. He urged all those gathered to “rise above differences.” Modi said that “We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can.”

Russia-Ukraine war

Like any other gathering of global representatives these days, the main agenda of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting remained focused on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, sidelining many other important issues in the way.

“Unfortunately, this meeting has again been marred by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine, deliberate campaign of destruction against civilian targets, and its attack on the core principles of the UN Charter,” the U.S. Secretary of State told the reporters after the meeting.

A wide ranging discussion with FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia on #G20FMM sidelines.

Exchanged views on our bilateral cooperation and G20 issues. pic.twitter.com/czRgKNo00E

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) March 1, 2023

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also gave a press conference where he said the meeting failed to reach an agreement because of the “emotional” approach to Ukraine from Western nations.

The Russian foreign minister said that Russia is ready for talks on Ukraine, however, stressed that “We haven’t seen any serious proposals since last March.” Lavrov also said that “Western partners” have been talking about Russia’s isolation, but “We do not feel isolated at all. The way I see it, the West is isolating itself, and this awareness will dawn upon it soon. In the near future, we expect to make a trip to a number of countries in Latin America.”

This was the second foreign minister’s meeting and the second consecutive ministerial-level G20 meeting that failed to produce a joint statement. Last year’s G20 foreign minister’s meeting in Bali ended in bitter disagreements due to the Russian-Ukraine war while a few days ago, the G20 finance ministers’ meeting also failed to produce a joint statement due to the same disagreements.

Bilateral meetings

The most significant highlight came on from the sidelines of the main event when the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken came face-to-face with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov for a 10-minute long previously unscheduled meeting.

According to U.S. officials, Blinken raised three issues in the brief meeting. Secretary Blinken spoke about Washington’s support for Ukraine and stressed that the U.S. would continue to support Ukraine until the war ends. He also stressed that Moscow should revert its position on the New START nuclear treaty and demanded an immediate release of the former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan who has been detained in Russia. The Russian side did not release any comments regarding the meeting.

Another important bilateral meeting came between the foreign ministers of China and India. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang held a meeting for the first time with his Indian counterpart since taking the office earlier this year. The two diplomats discussed the current state of the relationship between India and China which has been deteriorating since the bitter border standoff in 2020. 

The G20 foreign minister’s meeting was the biggest event before the G20 leaders meeting that would take place in September. If ongoing polarization continues between the G20 states, it is expected that the leader’s meeting would also end without a joint statement, a situation India would desperately want to avoid as the host.