'Today's era must not be of war'

New Delhi: The G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration tread a middle path on the thorny issue of the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the spirit of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future,’ the core principle of India's G20 Presidency.

The declaration has expressed concerns about the impact and immense human suffering of wars and conflicts across the world and recalled its earlier discussion on the Ukraine war in Bali, Indonesia.

"Today's era must not be of war", the declaration asserted, echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a conference in Uzbekistan in 2022. The consensus on the Delhi Declaration followed deep divisions within the grouping over the wording on the war in Ukraine.

It reiterated "our national positions and resolutions adopted at the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly (A/RES/ES-11/1 and A/RES/ES-11/6) and underscored that all states must act in a manner consistent with the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter in its entirety. In line with the UN Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state. The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible."

The declaration said the G20 is primarily the premier forum for international economic cooperation. It is not the platform to resolve geopolitical and security issues. However, it acknowledges that geopolitical and security can have significant consequences for the global economy.

Against this backdrop, the declaration outlined that the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war in Ukraine on global food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation and growth, which has complicated the policy environment for countries, especially developing and least developed countries which are still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic disruption which has derailed progress towards the SDGs.

It also acknowledged the existence of different views and assessments of the situation about the Ukraine war.

It further appreciates the efforts of Türkiye and UN-brokered Istanbul Agreements consisting of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Russian Federation and the 3 Zero Draft Secretariat of the United Nations on Promoting Russian Food Products and Fertilizers to the World Markets and the Initiative on the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian Ports (Black Sea Initiative) and call for their full, timely and effective implementation to ensure the immediate and unimpeded deliveries of grain, foodstuffs, and fertilizers/inputs from the Russian Federation and Ukraine. This, it said, is necessary to meet the demand in developing and least developed countries, particularly those in Africa.