Ukraine war important point of discussion at G20 meet, says India

The Russia-Ukraine conflict will form an important part of discussions at a Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers meeting, but host India is confident that economic challenges created by the war will get equal attention, India’s foreign secretary has said.

“Yes, given the nature and the developing situation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it will be an important point of discussion,” Vinay Kwatra, India’s top diplomat, told reporters on Wednesday, as foreign ministers arrived in New Delhi for the meeting.

“Questions relating to food, energy and fertiliser security, the impact that the conflict has on these economic challenges that we face”, among others, would also receive “due focus”, Kwatra said.

The meeting will be attended by 40 delegations including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

After a welcome dinner later on Wednesday, discussions will be held on Thursday.

G20 includes the wealthy G7 nations as well as Russia, China, India, Brazil, Australia and Saudi Arabia, among other nations, representing about 85 percent of the world’s economy and two-thirds of its population.

The event follows a meeting of finance chiefs of the bloc in Bengaluru last month, where they wrangled over condemning Russia for the war, failed to reach a consensus on a joint statement and settled instead for a summary document.

The outcome was similar to a G20 summit meeting in Bali last November, when host Indonesia also issued a final declaration acknowledging differences.