Modi at G20 foreign ministers meeting: It’s time to set aside divisions, show unity of action

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the G20 foreign ministers to set aside their divisions and focus on the economic and other challenges facing developing countries as they gathered for a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday under the shadow of tensions over the Ukraine conflict.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the G20 foreign ministers to set aside their divisions and focus on the economic and other challenges facing developing countries as they gathered for a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday under the shadow of tensions over the Ukraine conflict.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi pointed to the theme of India’s G20 presidency – One Earth, One Family, One Future – and said the meeting should reflect the spirit of coming together to achieve common objectives instead of being overcome by “deep global divisions”.

The G20 meet, however, was unable to agree on a joint communique as Western countries and the China-Russia combine were unable to agree on text to describe the war in Ukraine. The meeting ended with a chair’s summary issued by host India.

In a video message played before the foreign ministers began their deliberations, Modi said the Indian G20 presidency’s theme signals the “need for unity of purpose and unity of action”. He added, “I hope that your meeting today will reflect this spirit of coming together, for achieving common and concrete objectives.”

Modi, who spoke in English and made no direct reference to the Ukraine crisis in his speech, noted the ministers were meeting “at a time of deep global divisions” and said that “it is but natural that your discussions are affected by the geopolitical tensions of the day”.

He added, “We all have our positions and our perspectives on how these tensions should be resolved. However, as the leading economies of the world, we also have a responsibility towards those who are not in this room.”

India has sought to push the concerns of developing countries at the G20 platform, especially the impact of the Ukraine crisis on food, fuel and fertiliser prices and rising inflation across the globe.

In this context, Modi said the world is looking to the G20 to ease the challenges of growth, development, economic resilience, disaster resilience, financial stability, transnational crime, corruption, terrorism, and food and energy security. “In all these areas, the G20 has capacity to build consensus and deliver concrete results. We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can,” he said.

“As you meet in the land of Gandhi and the Buddha, I pray that you will draw inspiration from India’s civilisational ethos – to focus not on what divides us, but on what unites us,” he added.

Modi also raised India’s long-standing demand for reform of global institutions, saying “multilateralism is in crisis today” and noted that the architecture of global governance created after World War II was meant to prevent future wars and to foster global cooperation on common interests.

“The experience of the last few years – financial crisis, climate change, pandemic, terrorism, and wars – clearly shows that global governance has failed in both its mandates. We must also admit that the tragic consequences of this failure are being faced most of all by the developing countries,” he said.

Modi also urged the G20 to focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and unsustainable debt affecting many developing countries that are trying to ensure food and energy security while being affected by global warming. “This is why India’s G20 presidency has tried to give a voice to the Global South. No group can claim global leadership without listening to those most affected by its decisions,” he said.

The G20’s goal of finding the right balance between growth and efficiency on one hand and resilience on the other can be achieved by working together, Modi said.