Foreign ministers from around the world meet in New Delhi this week in the shadow of Russia’s war in Ukraine and spiralling U.S.-China tensions, with host India hoping that issues like climate change and Third World debt are not overlooked.
The March 1-2 meeting of the G20 foreign ministers will be held days after a meeting of finance chiefs of the bloc in Bengaluru, where they wrangled over condemning Russia for the war, failed to reach a consensus on a joint statement and settled instead for a summary document.
The outcome was similar to a G20 summit meeting in Bali last November, when host Indonesia also issued a final declaration acknowledging differences.
Last July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov walked out of a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, also in Bali, after the West strongly denounced the war.
The New Delhi meeting will be attended by Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Britain’s James Cleverly, while China is expected to send its foreign minister, Qin Gang. In all, representatives of 40 countries, including non-G20 members invited by India, and multilateral organisations will attend.
via Reuters
