NEW DELHI: Russia is committed to making the Delhi summit a success and ensuring that the Indian G20 Presidency is effective.
“We hope that all other G20 members, especially those representing the West, adopt the same responsible attitude. We will work with a wide range of friendly partner countries within the G20 and rely on the BRICS countries to counter any detrimental processes in this regard,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova at a media briefing on Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s presence at the G20 summit.
Lavrov will speak at two Leaders’ sessions One Planet session on sustainable development and promoting steady economic growth on September 9 and One Future session on promoting democracy and strengthening the role of the countries belonging to the global majority within global economic governance institutions on September 10. Lavrov is scheduled to hold several bilateral talks and contacts on the sidelines of the summit.
Lavrov had figured prominently in a media briefing by Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov.
Zakharova praised “the unifying nature of India’s G20 Presidency’’ and its commitment to promote the interests of the developing countries and create a constructive atmosphere at the forum. Russia also welcomed the move to accept the African Union as a permanent G20 member and said it had contributed to carrying it out.
However, Russia indicated that it would not budge from objecting to the reference to Ukraine in the joint statement issued at the end of the meeting. Along with China, it has maintained that the reference to the Ukraine conflict is not the core agenda of the G20. Due to the opposition by the two countries, the G20 Summit, where all decisions are taken by full consensus, may not issue a Joint Declaration and will have to settle for the “Chair’s Summary’’.
“We refer to this phenomenon as the Ukrainisation of the international agenda, meaning a refusal to recognise the actual challenges related to the Ukraine crisis, its causes and ways to settle it, while seeking to place this topic on top of the agenda everywhere even when it has no place in the discussion,” she said.
In a departure from nations lauding the transition to the green economy, Russia said it would share an assessment of the risks, especially for vulnerable countries, if the transition was not streamlined. Of interest to India will be its stand on the ongoing shift in manufacturing capabilities in favour of developing countries, “carefully thought-out solutions” on digital transformation and specific proposals on expanding multilateral cooperation, in particular, as part of the Greater Eurasian Partnership.