G20 India….Diplomacy at its best & some politics

The G20 2023 will go down in history as the most successful summit meeting ever not only because its consensual joint declaration which in itself was a rare moment of sorts within a conglomeration of 20 different countries, but considering the geopolitical landscape in the background of Russia Ukraine conflict that has polarized the world and the rising Chinese imperialism, to forge a consensus from the extremely differentiated world order was a challenge. Remember the Bali declaration had failed to come through.  To pull off a draft that would bring the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and NATO nations camped on one side against Russia, China, North Korea, on the other and with other developing countries that were neutral, was beyond expectation. Hectic negotiations over a period of one year since India took over the Presidency, with diplomatic deft from Team India, saw the Joint Declaration come through. It was a historical achievement.  

Other major achievements of this summit were the inclusion of African Union in the G20 grouping, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor that is a rail and ship connectivity corridor, the Bio Fuel Alliance, agreement on UNSC reforms & Climate funding.  

On the first day of the summit itself, after the 2 sessions and some meetings, Prime Minister Modi’s announcement that the joint statement was agreed upon with consensus, threw a surprise. Then followed a press conference which confirmed the Declaration adopted. This, when earlier both the Russia-China combine and the West were firm on not budging from their respective position on the Ukraine conflict. Information says that the US was asked to handle the EU and China played a sport in bringing around Russia for a Joint Declaration to work out.  

A source said India circulated the final draft to the G20 members on Friday night saying if they do not agree to it, there will be no declaration.

Sources also say the language was so worked on as to be not just acceptable to all countries but be mild and far from harsh. The main point of difference was the Ukraine aspect wherein the term ‘Russian Aggression’ was not acceptable to Russia & China that had the Bali Declaration fall apart.  This time the Russia-Ukraine paragraphs did not condemn Russia for its actions, nor did it call it an “aggression”. But the West also got what it wanted.

On the domestic front New Delhi was showcased at its best, it was glitter and glitz all the way. G20 banners & posters dotted the entire capital with Modi’s image welcoming the delegates. Roads skirted with potted plants and newly planted trees with lit up facade, flyovers painted with Indian art, slums hidden with tin sheets, traffic restrictions for common man to the hilt, roads cleaned up and washed, even stray animals and usual beggars on streets vanished for the 2 days extravaganza.

The venue Bharat Mandapam was a lavish and state of the art structure that showcased India’s prowess as much as its years old culture. Inside the precincts was the International Media Centre, a sprawling space with wifi and workstations and food, dedicated to international and domestic media was catered to for 24*7 coverage. Interestingly the paradox was that the press was not allowed anywhere near the summit meeting venue, except the official media DD and ANI. So no independent stories or interviews. That’s caged media.  

The second day after the fanfare concluded some world leaders held their Press Conferences. US President Biden tweeted after reaching Vietnam, his next stop, that despite request to the PMO about an interaction with the Press after the summit, it was refused. In Vietnam he said he talked about the role of civil society, press freedom & Human Rights to Modi.

French President Macron in a press briefing later in the day at IMC said, we condemn war and that G20 confirms isolation of Russia.

Turkish President Erdogan too held a press briefing. Seen on the side of Russia he said that any initiative to isolate Russia is bound to fail and that he seeks rotating membership of UNSC.

The most awaited interaction was with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. Talking to reporters Lavrov said that the summit was a definite success & a ‘breakthrough’ paving the way for the world to move forward.

Canadian PM Trudeau too addressed a press conference. Trudeau said that he is concerned about the strong anti India act of separatists in Canada.

Brazil, that is going to chair the next Presidency of G20 called the summit exceptional. He said, "We will put inequality at the top: inequality of gender, race, education, health, poverty and hunger. The world needs balance."

However Ukraine had something else to say about the Declaration, ‘there is nothing to be proud of.’

However this was India’s moment on the global stage. May also be called an exercise aimed at the elections in 2024.

Macedonia FM Osmani says, G20 should be used to make the world more secure

 

New Delhi: The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia Bujar Osmani, who was on his visit to New Delhi said, ‘My visit to India comes at a challenging moment for our global security architectures.  And both our two countries have a significant role to play here, leading two important international platforms: North Macedonia is chairing the OSCE and India is presiding the G 20.  I truly believe that we must give our all to ensure the functioning and positive contribution of these  platforms for the well being of the people, and for a bit more security in a very insecure world.’

Bujar Osmani is also the Chairperson of OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe). Osmani met S Jaishankar, EAM and was hosted by ICWA. He also visited Kolkata, Mission of Charity in Kolkata, established by Mother Teresa, who was an Albanian but worked in India.

Extorting Mother Teresa, the common thread between India & Macedonia, Bujar Osmani invited India to join his initiative Centre for Peace and Meditation, within the framework of my OSCE chairmanship. 

Macedonia being a NATO partner Osmani stressed that his small country needs defence partnerships. He said, ‘While India is an enormously large country, North Macedonia is small, and need alliances, including in the defense field.

This March, North Macedonia marked its third anniversary as a NATO member state. ‘During this period, we proved to be a credible and reliable ally. It deserves underlining that NATO is a defence pact and has never and will never use aggression against anyone’.

Speaking at ICWA, on Ukraine Russia conflict he said, ‘NATO leaders have strengthened their commitment to defense investment, agreed to bring Ukraine closer to NATO, and deepened partnerships around the world.’ He said the Alliance, agreed with Finland's accession doubling NATO's land border with Russia, and soon, Sweden will be joining as well.

He said, ‘North Macedonia can count on allied support should its territorial integrity and sovereignty ever be threatened.’

Osmani called on Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Thereafter, External Affairs Minister, Dr. S Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Osmani held bilateral talks including on India-Western Balkans relations, trade, investments, multilateral cooperation, education, agriculture and people-to-people ties. They also discussed regional and international issues of mutual interest including Indo-Pacific, Ukraine and UN reforms. Deputy NSA, Vikram Misri called on Foreign Minister Osmani, MEA informed.

On 01 September 2023, Foreign Minister Osmani visited Mother House and paid tribute at the Mother Teresa Memorial in Kolkata. He also held meeting with officials of the Government of West Bengal.

​As per MEA, the first visit to India by Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani provided fresh impetus to relations between India and North Macedonia.

Tags: #Macedonia, #Bujar Osmani, #Indopacific, #NATO, #Internationalrelations, #Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, #G20 

Ukraine has a law that forbids negotiations with Russia; West hijacking G20 Agenda: Denis Alipov, Russian Envoy to India

 

New Delhi: Ahead of the G20 Summit being held in New Delhi, Ambassador of Russia to India, Denis Alipov makes explosive revelations on some important issues ranging from Ukraine conflict, the grain deal, India's G20 Presidency outcome, and the new map issued by China.

Excerpts

On India's Presidency of G20 & its outcome

Indian presidency experiences a strong pressure from countries who in Russia’s opinion hijacked the G20’s agenda making the Ukraininan crisis a topic of discussions. G20 being a consensus based group should focus on economics &  business but since last year political issues were discussed, something that we do not accept. If there is no consensus then the item should be removed. Political matters should never be discussed in G20. So in our perception the success of G20 rests very largely on the shoulders of those who are insisting on non consensual issues of the agenda. We very strongly supported the priorities & agenda that India has put forward for G20 & are hopeful that the outcome will be the one that India aspires for and is hoping to reach.  In any case I believe that  the summit will be a huge success for India and the world regardless of the formal outcome we all are looking forward to.


On Ukraine…

Despite the assertions from the other side it is Russia that is open to peace. Ukraine consistently on record says that they do not want negotiations. The west continues to supply weapons to Ukraine. Last year in March we agreed on the broad peaceful agreement which was later on derailed by the US & other Ukrainian supporters intentionally & so all the claims & accusations that Russia does not want peace or the so called Copenhagen format that Ukraine has done recently, is not something that we see as basis of finding a solution since in that format the 10 point formula of Zelensky is being discussed. This formula has nothing in it but set of alternatives opposing Russia. If somebody wants to find solution we all need to sit & discuss & together agree on some settlement.

On not an era of war….

Russia has just retaliated to the aggression launched against us. The era statement should be addressed to Zelensky & the US. They did not show any intention to resolve the issue. Zelensky forbade himself legally to speak with Russia. There is a law in Ukraine preventing negotiations with Russia. Ukrainians passed a law sometime back that forbids negotiations with Russia.

On Russia's position in case of India China conflict

Our relations with India as our relations with China are very wholesome. We will never sacrifice our relations in case of any unfortunate development in the world. We do not develop our relations with any country at the expense of any other. But we advocate improvement in the relations between Indian & China. Having said that we do not interfere into the disputes & contradictions that India has with China. We have been always very respective of the position India & China have said that the boundary issue is a bilateral issue. We have a trilateral mechanism between Russia India China, a format which was formed well before BRICS & was quite active prior to 2020. But after the Galwan incident the dialogue between India & China became more complicated. We are keen to continue with the trilateral format which is very helpful to build confidence, the basis for improvement of relations. This will happen soon or later. The sooner the better.   

On the newly published Chinese map.

We haven’t commented on that but they have some discrepancies on the Russia China border as well. We don’t exaggerate this issue with the Chinese & we have noticed India too does not exaggerate it too. It doesn’t change the situation.

On giving Defence equipment to Pakistan

We do not supply Defence equipment to Pakistan.  We have Defence cooperation with India not with Pakistan.  


On payment systems

US doesn’t want Russia to use USD in transaction with other countries.  But we already had established mechanism of rupee rouble trade before the crisis. So the mechanism does exist & is workable but it doesn't work appropriately because the Indian financial communities, Indian banks are not allowed to use it fearing secondary sanctions or some kind of consequences if they start doing business with Russian banks. Even knowing that the dollar in such transactions are in no way involved. The US has no leverage to disrupt or be a party to the bilateral currency transactions. Even knowing that banks are allowed to do it the over cautiousness is the main reason behind the fact the mechanism has not been launched so far. There is a trend of increasing use of Indian currency are signs of multi polarity.

We are trying to create workable mechanism in the current circumstances so that trade & economic relations continue unhindered. Projects like North South corridor is in focus. Its a multinational project involving Iran & other countries. We have on agenda mutual understanding that we need to have FTA between India & Eurasia in which several countries besides Russia participate, some central Asian countries, Belarus & Asian states.


On Joint Declaration

The situation is complicated. There is no consensus on one particular point of agenda which is the Ukrainian part. In that case the non consensual item should be removed from the agenda. We have agreed on all topical issues of the world..climate, sustainable development, financial crisis, food crisis, we have consensus on all except the Ukrainian part.  Russia says lets discuss it. We are open for discussion. There is the Security council for political issue. G20 has been established for resolving financial & economic problems that the world faces, not geopolitical problems.

If you say that the energy situation or the food crisis has direct bearing on the economic situation, its not the Ukrainian crisis that has triggered the energy crisis or disruption of food & grain supplies, not even the Russian actions in that part of d world. It is the sanctions that has a direct bearing on food crisis. Sanctions from the west has disrupted. The main supply of wheat & grain to the world markets for several years has been Russia & not Ukraine. Ukraine supplied only 3%.

India’s role in solving Russia Ukraine issue

It will certainly help if India decides to take it forward, give some ideas. But they should be aimed at finding the truth, true solution to the problem... there are proposals from African countries besides Zelensky formula. We are open to any. So far we have not seen ideas that are truly helpful to find solution to start negotiations.  

On Russia withdrawing from the Grain deal

There are 2 parts to the grain deal. One is through the black sea, was implemented. We have ceased our participation in that part because the other part involving Russian companies, Russian grain supplies was never launched. So all the UN can do is address & request the G7, the US & the western countries to display goodwill & take necessary steps to allow the Russian part of the grain deal to work. The UN doesn’t have any other means other than pleading & requesting. And the US & Germany have rejected it so far. So Russia has withdrawn from one part. The reality is that the other part has not worked so far.

And blaming us of walking out of the Black sea grain initiative, is hypocritical. The initiative doesn’t work because the 2nd part of it which presupposes the participation of the Russian banks in transactions for food supplies, which presupposes the allowing of Russian ships to use their ports, supply grain…this part doesn’t work. & this particular part is the main reason why there is shortage of grain supply. Not because Ukraine supplies something. And  Ukraine continues by land.


On whether Russia is open to peace proposal & if there is none where is the war going

We are determined to achieve all the objectives that we have put. We have been very open, we have tried on many occasions for dialogue with NATO, US  & the EU on the security architecture,  but the fact is we cannot live in Europe if there is a feeling of danger from someone. Europe feels danger from Russia. It is not a stable situation. We cannot continue living with in constant fear of each other. We have been saying this very patiently to all NATO members that NATO cannot continue to expand eastwards because we feel danger in that extension. NATO does not hide the anti Russia objectives that they have. We cannot live with NATO at our borders. They have very arrogantly dismissed all our concerns for decades. We had warned while having those discussions with US & NATO that if they do not agree to an acceptable security architecture a serious situation could erupt & it has erupted.  Besides, this is only one part of the problem. Another part is what about the legitimate coup that happened in Ukraine in 2014 openly supported by US for their geopolitical purposes.


On what concessions is Russia ready to make for peace if as solution they say Ukraine will not join NATO

We want Ukraine should be a neutral state. That is the first step to solution. We are open to a dialogue with NATO. It should be a dialogue, should be in good spirit & good will.  

On S400 delays……

Delays of S400 didn’t happen because of military aggravation but after that we had agreed mutually on a timetable & it is being followed very meticulously. Supplies continue & they will be concluded on time as stipulated in new agreements formed in new supplies.

On Bali declaration..

It cannot be repeated after there were Nord stream blasts, disruption of ammonia pipeline in Odessa, all these very seriously aggravated the energy & food crisis. These were revelations by western agencies. Statements by some former PM’s that they intentionally disrupted the peace negotiations between Russia & Ukraine & before that Minsk agreement to win time for Ukraine to build up militarily for full scale military operation in the East, Donbas republics. The impact of sanctions was not reflected in the Bali formula. If they want resolution they should be open to changing the Bali para. But they want to retain it. We don’t agree with that.

On India's position in the global context..

India is a global power. It will become a member of UNSC, it will be one of the centres of decision making very soon. It is rightly positioned as leader of the Global South & to lead the process of democratization of international principles.  

  Tags: #UkraineRussiaconflict #G20 #Russiagraindeal, #DenisAlipov #Zelensky #Balideclaration, #GlobalSouth #PritiPrakashBlogger #S400 #ChineseMap