India wants G20 to focus on Global South issues, but Ukraine war ‘cannot be avoided’

India refuses to use its G20 presidency to discuss more sanctions on Russia and says the focus should be on development, especially in the Global South

The G20 summit is likely to go beyond India’s individual stance on the war and New Delhi has to play a balancing act and work towards a consensus, observers say

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 meet in Bali. Modi has said India’s stance on the Ukraine war is “well known and well understood in the entire world”. Photo: Pool via Reuters

Published: 8:15pm, 17 Jul 2023

India is intensifying its efforts to ensure the G20 leaders’ summit in September will not be overshadowed by the Ukraine war, but observers say the attempts are unlikely to succeed given the ongoing conflict’s vast consequences on the world economy.

“Keep the G20 and the Ukraine war separate. Our complaint is that the G20 is an economic platform. By ignoring this as the objective of the G20, the focus is diverted elsewhere,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in an interview published by local news outlet Aaj Tak on Saturday.

“The focus should be on development, especially in the Global South where nations are reeling under heavy debts,” he added.

India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar says the G20 is an economic platform. Photo: Pool via Reuters

India is the current G20 host, and officials have maintained that they do not want to use the position to discuss additional sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

But experts say the issue will be inevitable, as it continues being a topic of primary concern for many attendees, as it was during last year’s G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali.

“The conflict in Ukraine cannot be avoided because it is a major issue, particularly for the Western participants of the G20,” said C. Raja Mohan, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New Delhi.

“How is India going to stop these countries from raising these issues? India will have to try and find a way to move the conversation forward,” he added.