G-20 Won't Get Bogged Down By Russia-Ukraine War. Other Issues Must Be Discussed, Says Amitabh Kant: Report

The G20 officials gatherings is being held in Kerala’s Kottayam district. 

India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Thursday stated that in G20 officials gathering, there is a need to focus on issues such as rising inflation, global debt, poverty, climate action and the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), instead of Russia-Ukraine conflict, Hindustan Times (HT) reported. 

“We will not get bogged down with Ukraine and Russia. Other pressing issues such as rising inflation, global debt, poverty, climate action and the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) have to be centre stage,” he was quoted by HT in its report.

The G20 officials gatherings is being held in Kerala’s Kottayam district. 

The G20 sherpas, or personal representatives of the world's top economies, will convene in Kumarakom over the next two days to review the work done in more than 40 meetings on several tracks and to lay the ground for the leaders' summit in New Delhi in September. 

The G20 sherpas are meeting after two earlier critical conferences of finance ministers in Bengaluru and foreign ministers in New Delhi ended without a consensus declaration due to disagreements between G7 member states and the Chinese-Russian combination on the wording to characterise the Ukrainian war.

When Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stormed out of a contentious foreign ministers' meeting last July and G7 delegates refused to be seen with Russian officials, Indian officials privately claim that the country's G20 presidency is better positioned than Indonesia's leadership in 2022, HT reported.

While seeking anonymity, an official informed HT: “At least, we have officials of all G20 states sitting in the same room and discussing important issues. This is all part of India’s ability to convene and bring everyone together."

The G7 nations, as well as Russia and China, are divided over two paragraphs of wording agreed with at the last G20 Summit in Bali last year to condemn the invasion of Ukraine while including other countries' opinions on sanctions and other punitive measures. In recent weeks, Chinese and Russian officials, notably Lavrov, have argued that these phrases cannot be included in the joint communiqué since the situation in Ukraine has altered in the last six months.

Kant stated that the Indian side was able to persuade the G20 members to agree on "99%" of the subjects being addressed and that the two lines dealing with the Ukrainian situation are difficult not because of the Indian side's viewpoint.