Delhi Declaration at G20: How India reached consensus despite roadblocks by China

The Group of 20 (G20) bloc has adopted the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced today (9 September). The announcement comes as India is hosting global leaders in the National Capital for the 18th G20 Summit. From United States president Joe Biden to British prime minister Rishi Sunak, several heads of state, along with leaders of international organisations, are attending the two-day high-profile meeting at Pragati Maidan’s Bharat Mandapam. The G20 grouping also got a new member today (9 September). Under India’s presidency, the African Union has been granted permanent member status in the G20 bloc of the world’s wealthiest economies. All eyes were on whether the G20 Summit would end in a joint Leaders’ Declaration as several issues emerged as a sticking point in building a consensus among the grouping.

VIDEO | "I want to announce that there has been a consensus on New Delhi G20 Leaders' Summit Declaration. I announce that this declaration has been adopted," says PM @narendramodi in his remarks during Session 2 of G20 Summit in Delhi.#G20SummitDelhi #G20India2023 pic.twitter.com/F24St74Jff

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 9, 2023

Let’s take a look at these issues and why a joint declaration is a big deal for India’s G20 presidency. A done deal Multiple media reports claimed that a compromise has been reached between the G20 members, paving the way for a joint declaration. According to a Reuters report, G20 sherpas, or country representatives, have ironed out differences over the wording on how to define the war in Ukraine in the final communique. It will now be forwarded to the G20 leaders. The language might be similar to that used in the joint communique during the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia last year. It had mentioned that while most countries denounced Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine, there were differing views of the situation and sanctions. New Delhi joint declaration is likely to refer to Russia’s war “in” Ukraine, instead of “against Ukraine” – a phrasing sought by the US and its allies, reported Bloomberg. The other contentious issues discussed by the sherpas were how to reflect divergent views on sanctions on Moscow and how to refer to a “just peace” for Ukraine, the Bloomberg report added. Times of India (TOI) confirmed that after “intense” negotiations among the sherpas that lasted beyond midnight, a revised paragraph on the Russia-Ukraine conflict found a consensus among the members. As per Reuters, an earlier draft of the joint declaration showed that the countries were unable to compromise over the language on the war in Ukraine. The 38-page draft had left the “geopolitical situation” paragraph blank, while members agreed on 75 other paragraphs on different issues, including climate change and cryptocurrencies. Earlier, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who is representing the country at the Delhi Summit in place of President Vladimir Putin, had said he would block the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration if it does not reflect Moscow’s views on Ukraine and other issues. Was China playing a spoilsport? Speaking to Bloomberg on Friday (8 September), UK PM Sunak accused China of objecting to issues such as climate change and Russia’s war in Ukraine. He said that with Beijing creating roadblocks to proposals on these issues, the G20 members were yet to forge a consensus. “We’re not there yet,” Sunak told Bloomberg News. Responding to the UK PM’s remarks, Beijing said on Friday that it will push for a positive outcome at the G20 Leaders’ Summit. “China attaches great importance to the G20 and has participated in the consultations and discussions on the G20 New Delhi Summit document in an active and constructive way,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was quoted as saying by PTI. [caption id=“attachment_13103542” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the G20 Summit venue. Reuters[/caption] Sunak’s statements came on the heels of the United States saying it hoped all countries would be on board but indicated that Russia and China are less likely to “sign on”. “Often times the sticking point tends to be the war in Ukraine because countries like Russia and China are less likely to sign on to language that the rest of the international community is more uncomfortable signing on to, so we’ll see where it goes. But we’d like to see that, absolutely,” John Kirby, the National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communication, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI earlier. Recently, India’s G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant said that China is a “multilateral player”, adding that New Delhi has been successful in working with “every single country”. “China is a multilateral player. In multilateral discussions, the issues are very different from bilateral issues and the Chinese discuss issues of growth, and development from their own perspective. The challenge of any multilateral discussion is you have to bring consensus across every issue, every country has veto power. We’ve been able to work with every single country and bring them on board…” he said, as per ANI. Throughout India’s G20 presidency, Russia and China have protested against two paragraphs condemning Moscow’s war in Ukraine. This led to almost all G20 ministerial meetings failing to come out with consensus documents. Besides the war, climate has been another thorny topic among the members. As per the Bloomberg report, China flagged the issue of access to semiconductor technology to help developing countries switch to clean energy during talks on tackling climate change. “Russia and Saudi Arabia are also opposed to language on accelerating efforts toward the phase down or phase out of unabated fossil fuel use,” the report said. According to TOI, many issues were resolved a back after China softened its stance on G20 proposals. ALSO READ: Will G20 be renamed G21 with inclusion of African Union? What could the joint declaration include? The G20 members could reportedly endorse tighter regulations of cryptocurrencies. “It will be a key win for us (India) if we can get a consensus on creating a global regulatory structure for dealing with crypto-assets…we want to show that we can take the lead in global technology regulations. There could be some concerns by more crypto-friendly jurisdictions and those will need some ironing out,” a senior government official told Indian Express.  As per the earlier draft of the declaration, there was no mention of a fossil fuel phase-down, reported Reuters.  It showed that the grouping agreed to address debt vulnerabilities in low and middle-income countries “in an effective, comprehensive and systematic manner”. The G20 members are likely to call for bolstering and reforming multilateral development banks. The draft, as per Reuters, also showed that the bloc concurs that the world needs a total of $4 trillion low-cost financing every year for energy transition. Why does a joint declaration matter? A joint declaration is a major win for India’s G20 presidency, especially amid the grouping’s deep divisions over key issues. It would be an embarrassment for India if there was no consensus as it would be the first time in 20 years that a G20 Summit would end without a joint declaration. [caption id=“attachment_13103562” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] PM Narendra Modi addressing the G20 Summit in New Delhi. Reuters[/caption] A Leaders’ Declaration “is by far the best way to record what has been agreed, so that countries can be held to account in the future by external parties, and so that government systems know what their leaders have signed up to and what they need to do internally”, Creon Butler, director for the global economy and finance programme at London’s Chatham House, told Reuters.  However, amid reports of a breakthrough over the language to describe Ukraine war, a joint communique seems within reach. “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,” G20 sherpa Kant had said earlier, reported PTI. With inputs from agencies