International Desk13 hours ago
A minute’s silence was observed in the meeting to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the Turkey-Syria earthquake.
The meeting of foreign ministers of G20 countries ended in Delhi. Representatives of 20 major economies of the world including US, Russia, China, Britain and France participated in it. In the inaugural session of the meeting, PM Modi said – After making progress for many years, now we have many challenges in front of us. Many developing countries are currently buried under such debts for food and energy security, which they are unable to handle. The poor countries are the most affected by the global warming caused by the rich countries.
After the meeting, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a press conference. Said- This is the time of globalization and no country can stay away from it. Every challenge has to be faced together. Our Prime Minister has also said the same thing.
2 important statements of the press conference
India’s Foreign Minister Jaishankar: I agree that there is a problem in relations with China. All issues have been discussed with his foreign minister. This also includes border disputes. G20 foreign ministers have pledged to work together on counter-narcotics for the first time.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: Due to the ongoing war with Ukraine, not Russia but the Western world is isolated. The relationship between India and Russia is very special. We appreciate India’s stand on the Russia-Ukraine war. America is putting pressure on some countries to vote against Russia in UN. These countries did not come under pressure because they understand the game of western countries. Prime Minister Modi has adopted a very responsible attitude. We have acted according to the UN Charter. There should be reforms in the UN Security Council as soon as possible.
PM Modi’s address through video conferencing during the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting.
Modi said – Global governance has failed
We meet at a time when the world is deeply divided. In the last few years we have seen economic crisis, climate change, pandemic, terrorism and war. It has become clear from this that global governance has failed. Institutions designed to handle the world’s most pressing issues have failed to meet the biggest challenges.
Jaishankar said – even if there is no consensus, work together
In the inaugural session, Jaishankar said – G20 countries have an extraordinary responsibility. We came together for the first time in the midst of a global crisis and today once again we are facing many crises, such as the Corona pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, climate change. It is not necessary that we agree on these issues, but we have to find a solution together.
In the G20 meeting, the focus will be on challenges related to food crisis, development co-operation.
Discussion on Russia-Ukraine
After about five months, apart from Russia and America, China’s foreign ministers were present on the same platform. A day before the meeting i.e. on Wednesday, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra reiterated the same thing which had become a global headline a few months ago. Prime Minister Modi had then told Russian President Vladimir Putin – this is not the time for war, but for talks. So far there have been at least three occasions when the US told open forums that India should use its influence to stop the war.
China move
According to a report in ‘The New Yorker’, China had made a proposal a few days ago to end the Russia-Ukraine war. There were four points in this. Surprisingly, three out of four points were such that it seemed that the war was not started by Russia, but by Ukraine. An appeal has been made to Russia to end the war in just one point. Overall, China did this trick to gain diplomatic advantage. This is the reason why no one took this proposal seriously.
After the start of the war, India and China imported the most crude oil from Russia. Both countries refined it and exported it and thus increased their foreign exchange reserves. America and its allies have now kept silence on this. The reason for this is that the Russia-Ukraine war may end soon, but America will need India to compete with China in many parts of the world apart from Asia, due to which it does not want to anger India.
…and India’s dominance
‘Bloomberg’ had said in a report published in January – After Kovid, every country in the world wants to maintain trade balance. There is a bilateral trade of about $ 115 billion between India and China. 60% of this is in favor of China. Obviously, despite the tension on LAC, China cannot afford to lose a big market like India under any circumstances.
On the other hand, there is India. Its domestic market and middle class is so big that it doesn’t matter much. This was also clearly visible in the period of about three years of Kovid-19. Where the world’s big economies were under tremendous pressure, India’s growth rate was not affected much. Many experts and rating agencies of the world have already said that India’s growth rate this year will be 6.7%, which is the highest in the world.
China, Iran and North Korea. These three countries are the ones who directly helped Russia during the war. Western world is very angry with this. This is the reason why strict sanctions have been imposed on Russia, China and North Korea are also paying the price for it. For example, America blacklisted some Chinese companies by accusing them of espionage. There are already tough sanctions on North Korea and Iran.
China-US dispute
- Recently, Chinese balloons were seen in Montana and Carolina in America. China had said – this is a balloon to collect weather information, it went to America by mistake. Joe Biden gave the order and the US Air Force shot it down in the blink of an eye. Refused to return the wreckage to China. The rhetoric intensified in both the countries.
- The matter became more serious when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled his visit to China. The special thing is that if Blinken had gone to China, this would have been his first meeting with Jinping’s new foreign minister, Qin Geng.
- However, the Foreign Ministers of China and America were present on a platform in New Delhi. It was believed that some ice would melt between the world’s two largest economies and both would then come to the table for talks. However, nothing like this appeared to happen.
- Another issue was related to China-Australia. Recently, the Australian government ordered every ministry of the country to immediately remove the CCTV cameras that have been purchased from Chinese companies. China was upset on this. The talks between the Foreign Ministers of China and Australia could not take place in Delhi.