'Russia And China Had Reservations': Sitharaman After G20 Meet Fails To Reach Consensus On Ukraine War

While US and France wanted a condemnation of Russia for invading Ukraine, G20 host India felt it was not the right forum to address such an issue.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with G20 delegates during the 1st G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting

Source : PTI

The first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under India's presidency saw the members failing to agree on a consensus statement over how to describe Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The meeting of finance leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies ended without a joint communique.

"Russia and China had reservations so a communique couldn't be released. Instead, a G20 chair's summary and outcome document was put out," PTI quoted Finance Miniter Nirmala Sitharaman, who is the chair, as saying.

The development comes a day after Russia's invasion of Ukraine completed a year on February 24.

While finance leaders from countries such as the US and France wanted a condemnation of Russia for invading Ukraine, G20 host India felt it was not the right forum to address such an issue, PTI reported. India wanted a more neutral term like "crisis" or a "challenge" to describe the "geopolitical situation".

Russia and China were upset at the use of the G20 platform for discussing political matters. Russia refers to its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operation", and avoids calling it an invasion or war.

India, which took over the G20 presidency on December 1, has kept a largely neutral stance on the war and has explicitly declined to blame Russia for the invasion, vouching for a diplomatic solution through dialogue. 

"Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy - constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risk," the summary and outcome document said.

"There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. Recognising that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy," the summary said. It pointed out that this particular paragraph of the statement was not agreed to by Russia and China.

The document stated that upholding international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability was essential.

Sitharaman On Reforming Multilateral Development Banks 

Sitharaman said the Indian Presidency received strong support on all the key priorities, particularly on strengthening Multilateral Development Banks (MDB) to address global challenges of the 21st century.

"The core objective of this group is to support G20 in developing a narrative for an updated vision for MDB ecosystem making MDBs capable of addressing transboundary challenges while ensuring that their development financing mandates are fulfilled," she said.

"Reforming of multilateral banks needed to make them more nimble-footed to meet development needs of developing countries," the Finance Minister said.

'Debt Vulnerabilities In Low And Middle-Income Countries'

The two-day meeting in Bengaluru also saw the finance chiefs discussing "debt vulnerabilities" in low and middle-income countries. The G20 members agreed to quick response from international institutions for debt stress faced by some countries.

"Strengthening multilateral coordination by official bilateral and private creditors is needed to address the deteriorating debt situation and facilitate coordinated debt treatment for debt-distressed countries," Sitharaman's said while flagging debt restructuring at Zambia, Ethiopia, Ghana and Sri Lanka.

"We task the International Financial Architecture Working Group to develop a G20 Note on the Global Debt Landscape in a fair and comprehensive manner," the document said.