Bengaluru, 25 February (IANS) | A two-day G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting ended without a joint communiqué on Saturday as member states remained divided over how to describe Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The G20 Chair’s Summary and Outcomes Document was issued in lieu of a joint communiqué after the meeting ended on Saturday.
The meeting began on February 24 in Bengaluru on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Countries such as the US and France demanded condemnation of Russia for the invasion, while India wanted to use neutral terminology such as “crisis” or “challenge” to describe the situation.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said it was “absolutely necessary” that the communique include condemnation of Russia.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said there was no way for the G20 to back down from a joint statement agreed at a final summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2022, adding that “the majority of members strongly condemn the war in Ukraine”. Condemned”.
Russia, which is also a member of the G20 forum, described it as a “special military operation”.
Meanwhile, the meeting called on the international community to “step up its efforts to effectively combat money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing to enhance the integrity and resilience of the international financial system”.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s summary document said that there has been a marginal improvement in the global economic outlook since the last meeting in October 2022. and tighter financing conditions that could worsen credit vulnerabilities in many emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs),” it said.
Sitharaman chaired the two-day meeting here.
The document said, “Since February 2022, we have seen the war in Ukraine adversely affecting the global economy. This issue was discussed. We reiterated our national position expressed in other forums.”
“There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. While acknowledging that the G20 is not the forum to address security issues, we acknowledge that security issues have important consequences for the global economy,” the document said. May be.”
Several issues were discussed during the two-day meeting.
These range from debt relief for poor countries to digital currencies and payments, climate change and financial inclusion.
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