India is set to host the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi under its presidency tomorrow. The focus of the meeting will be on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, food and energy security, counter terrorism, and more.
The two-day G20 FMM is set to take off today and the ministers and other stakeholders will gather to discuss critical global challenges on Thursday. This is the second ministerial meeting taking place under India’s presidency; the first was of Finance ministers of G20 member countries who met in Bangalore last week.
In a special pre-event briefing in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra shared details of the FMM meeting which is taking place at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Center and stated that it is one of the largest gatherings of foreign ministers hosted by any G20 presidency.
Sharing details, he said that during the Foreign Ministers meeting, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will be chairing two sessions of the foreign ministers meeting. Around 40 delegations are expected to participate including the member countries and the specially invited guest countries including Egypt, Nigeria, the Netherlands, UAE, Spain, Oman, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and others. Also 13 international organizations will be present.
Will the Russia-Ukraine war be one of the agendas?
Responding to a series of questions related to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said: “Given the developing situation of Russia-Ukraine, naturally, it will be an important point of discussion during foreign ministers’ meetings.”
Adding, foreign ministers will be focusing on the Russia-Ukraine situation, it will be important to what they come out with, what understanding is developed.
The issue of the ongoing war will be discussed by the G20 member countries as this has an impact not only on the global economy but on development too, the foreign secretary asserted. The member nations as well all the guest countries and international organizations will discuss on March 2, 2023 the growing costs of fuel and fertilizers as well as food security, rising inflation, and more.
Since the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is the major flashpoint between the West on one side and Russia and China on the other, India is all set to make efforts to come out with a joint statement following the meeting on Thursday.
Who will be the key leaders at the meeting?
Besides the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Germany’s Annalena Baerbock, France’s Catherine Colonna, Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, Australia’s Penny Wong, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Indonesia’s Retno Marsudi, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell Fontelles, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajan, among others.
However, the foreign secretary confirmed that Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will not be present during the FMM due to his “scheduling conflict” with the parliament session in his country.
According to reports there will be a special delegation led by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Kenji Yamada which will represent Japan at the meetings.
Agenda of the meeting
According to the FS the first session on Thursday will focus on issues related to food and energy, and multilateralism. Four or five issues will be the focus during the second session. Also emerging threats include global skill mapping, focus on global talent pools, narcotics and counter-terrorism.