At the end of the G20 in New Delhi, a final joint declaration was released which covered various topics of common interest such as climate, energy, food security, but also female empowerment, health, artificial intelligence and digitalisation and above all the conflict in Ukraine and the migration issue.
On the war in Ukraine it was written that “all States must refrain from the threat or use of force to pursue the acquisition of territory against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any State“. There is no real explicit condemnation of Russian aggression.
Just as it happened at the G20 in Bali, the situation is identical: no explicit reference to Russia. Apparently pressure from the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had the desired effect, namely not making any reference to Russia's role in the war.
Until a few days ago, however, it seemed that it was even possible that in the end the G20 member countries would not be able to publish a joint declaration, precisely because of Russia's opposition. In recent months, the various ministerial meetings of the G20 had never managed to produce a shared document, and it seemed that the final meeting could also end like this, for the first time in the history of the G20. The last preparatory draft of the declaration, drawn up by the so-called "sherpas", the negotiators of the individual countries, contained a blank page in the section which talked about the issue of the war in Ukraine.
Eventually a compromise was found that satisfied Russia. Commenting on the statement, Lavrov said that it was a "milestone" that "fully reflects our position." The Ukrainian government, however, criticized the text very harshly. The spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, said in a Facebook post that «Ukraine is grateful to its partners who tried to include strong wording in the text. At the same time, regarding Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the G20 has nothing to be proud of».
The Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also spoke about the compromise reached in the declaration, who defined it as a diplomatic success: «We worked for a declaration that had a specific reference to Ukraine, it was not an obvious result if we take into account that the ministerial meetings all ended without a final declaration. It is a compromise statement but I still consider it important in this context".
Melons: growing attention from the EU towards Africa
"Also thanks to the Italian role, Africa has been central in this G20. It is no coincidence that Africa was also at the center of my speech in yesterday's plenary session and we also participated in a meeting organized between the leaders of the European Union and the African leaders who were present, I believe that this too is a very important. It speaks of a growing attention on the part of the European Union towards the African continent, this is an element that must be considered also thanks to the role that Italy has played particularly in the last year".
"It was spoken clearly – he recalled – of growing instability especially in the Sael. There was talk of migration. There has been talk of investments, there has been talk of the food crisis, but there is the desire to tighten the links of cooperation with African countries on the part of the European Union. I repeat, Africa will also be one of the central issues that we will bring to the presidency of the G7 next year which will be led by Italy".
The new Indian Silk Road
The alternative to the Chinese Belt & Road Initiative by the USA, India, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and with the probable entry of Israel is also being staged at the G20. The idea is to connect the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East and conversely to Europe
At the basis of the initiative there would be an agreement between the United States, the United Arab Emirates, India and Saudi Arabia which represents a turning point that would strengthen connectivity between India and the Middle East and would aim to counteract the Belt & Road Initiative which completes this year ten years.
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