India urges G20 to look beyond East-West crisis

NEW DELHI (AP) — Diplomats from the world’s major industrial and developing nations opened Monday in what were expected to be combative meetings dominated by Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s efforts to gain global influence.

Host India called on all members of the divided Group of 20 to reach consensus on issues of great concern to the poorest countries, even if the East-West divide over Ukraine cannot be resolved. .

In a video message to foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said multilateralism was ‘in crisis’ and urged foreign ministers not to let ongoing tensions destroy food deals potential, energy security, climate change and the debt crisis.

“We are meeting at a time of deep global divisions,” Modi told the group, which included US Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

“We all have our positions and our views on how these tensions should be resolved,” he said. “We must not let the problems we cannot solve together get in the way of those we can.”

Referring to the increasingly souring rift between the United States and its allies on one side and Russia and China on the other, Modi said “multilateralism is in crisis today.”

The president regretted that the two main goals of the international order after World War II, preventing conflict and promoting cooperation, had been difficult to achieve. “The experience of the last two years, financial crisis, pandemic, terrorism and wars clearly shows that global governance has failed in its two mandates.”

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar then addressed the group in person and told them that they “need to find common ground and show direction”.

Although they were all in the same room, there was no indication that Blinken was going to meet his colleagues from Russia or China. Ahead of the summit, Blinken said he had no plans to meet them individually but hoped to see them at group events.

Besides attending the G20 and meeting Modi and Jaishankar on Thursday, the US diplomat’s official agenda only included meetings with the foreign ministers of Brazil, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa.