G20 summit kicks off today; Declaration to reflect voice of global south, says India

New Delhi, Sep 8: As world leaders converge at the G20 summit here, hosts India on Friday said the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration will reflect the voice of global south and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed confidence that the conclave will chart a new path in the human-centric and inclusive development.
Refusing to be drawn into the specifics of contentious issues such as the Russia-Ukraine war and climate-related topics, India’s top G20 officials told a news conference on the eve of the two-day summit that the Declaration was “almost ready” and they were hopeful of clinching a joint communique by consensus.
US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other leaders of the G20 grouping as well as chiefs of many leading world bodies like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) gathered in the national capital for the summit beginning Saturday.
The leaders were welcomed by traditional dance performances by various troupes and a smiling IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva danced to the beat of the music at the airport.
Security was beefed up across the national capital, especially in New Delhi district, ahead of the eighteenth G20 summit to be held at the iconic Bharat Mandapam, with police, paramilitary forces and other agencies keeping a hawk-eye vigil.
It is for the first time that India is hosting the summit of the 19 countries and the European Union, representing the world’s major developed and emerging economies.
India’s G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant said New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration will reflect the voice of the global south and developing countries.
“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.
“India’s expectation is that all G20 members will move towards a consensus and we are hopeful of a consensus on the communique,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said in response to a question on the possibility of Ukraine conflict holding up an agreement on the New Delhi Declaration.
The silver lining for India’s presidency is likely to be the support by almost all G20 countries to its proposal to include the African Union as a permanent member of the bloc that has emerged as perhaps the most influential multilateral forum after the United Nations.
On the inclusion of the African Union in the G20 bloc, Kwatra said he expected that the summit would take a “suitable decision” on it.
“The European Union is looking forward to welcoming the African Union as a permanent member of the G20,” President of European Council Charles Michel said, indicating consensus on the proposal. The African Union (AU) is a significant organisation comprising 55 member states that make up the countries of the African continent. (PTI)