G20 Summit 2023: Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday (February 28) said that the country's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and India's External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar will touch on a number of regional topics, including developments in Ukraine during Lavrov's visit to India for the G20.
As part of the visit bilateral events, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will discuss ways to further advance cooperation in key areas, as well as coordinate the schedule of upcoming contacts. The main thematic blocks include- trade, investment, transport and logistics cooperation, the use of national currencies in mutual settlements, and promising projects in the energy sector.
"The ministers will exchange views on topical international matters, including interaction under India’s SCO chairmanship and G20 presidency, as well as coordination of approaches in the UN, BRICS and RIC. They will also touch on a number of regional topics, including the creation of security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region, the current state of Afghanistan, and developments in Ukraine," it added.
Russia supports India’s G20 presidency in its commitment to promote a unifying agenda that will restore confidence in multilateral diplomacy and prevent the fragmentation of the global economy, as per the statement. “We share the relevance of India's stated priorities: ensuring inclusive and sustainable economic growth; accelerating progress towards the achievement of sustainable development goals; reforming multilateral institutions; digital modernisation; and increasing women’s economic engagement,” the statement read.
Russia is active on all G20 ministerial tracks, supports India’s effort to improve working mechanisms and create specialised processes to respond to natural disasters and launch start-ups. Russia is also ready to make a significant contribution to making progress in all these areas. “We aim to work together with our Indian colleagues to achieve the desired result, showing the greatest possible flexibility,” it said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday arrived in India for the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (G20 FMM). Lavrov will also attend Raisina Dialogue 2023. "Welcome to India! FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia @mfa_russia and @UNDESA Under Secretary General Li Junhua arrive in New Delhi for #G20FMM. FM Lavrov will also attend #Raisina2023," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted on Tuesday.
Theme of G20 meeting 2023:
The upcoming event’s theme is 'One Earth, One Family, One Future'. During the event, Lavrov will meet his Indian Counterpart S Jaishankar.Russia considers the G20 a prestigious forum for the world's leading economies, a significant discussion platform on global governance, where balanced consensus decisions should be made in the interests of all humankind. Its participants account for about 80 per cent of global GDP, international trade, and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as two-thirds of the world's population, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The statement said that the importance and role of the foreign ministers’ meetings in G20 activities is steadily growing. This format was launched in 2012. The key goal is to exchange views on current international issues and challenges. The meeting this year will be concentrated on multilateralism, energy and food security, and international development. The agenda also includes counterterrorism, labour resources, humanitarian assistance and reduction of the impacts of natural disasters.
What Russian Foreign Ministry said?
“During the regular foreign ministers’ meeting, we intend to firmly and openly talk about the reasons and instigators of the current serious problems in world politics and the global economy. We will focus on the attempts by the West to take revenge for the inevitable disappearance of the levers of dominance from its hands. We will also concentrate on its striving to continue receiving unilateral rent, in part, through unequal trade and violent interference in the affairs of sovereign states,” the ministry said.
We are set to clearly state Russia’s assessments of the current security, energy and food situation. We will present an unbiased factual picture of the act of terrorism, the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the EU and NATO zone of responsibility, and the illegal seizing of Russian humanitarian fertiliser shipments designated for African and other needy countries, according to the official statement.
The Russian Foreign Ministery said it welcomes the initiative of the Indian Presidency on organising a special G20 pavilion at the International Book Fair (February 25-March 5 of this year) in New Delhi and that Russia plans to hold an exhibition at the Fair on the commonality of world outlooks and the mutual influence of Leo Tolstoy (195th birth anniversary) and Mahatma Gandhi (75th anniversary of this tragic death).
Traffic disruptions in parts of Delhi:
Traffic is likely to be affected in parts of the national capital on Wednesday in view of the arrival of diplomats and foreign ministers to attend the G20 meeting in the national capital. Foreign ministers of G20 countries will meet in the national capital on March 1 and 2 to deliberate on pressing global challenges. Foreign ministers of almost all G20 countries, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Canada's Melanie Joly, are set to attend the meeting.
Commuters took to Twitter to complain about the traffic situation on Dwarka to Gurgaon road, near Delhi Cantonment railway station, from Rajouri Garden to Punjabi Bagh, Rohini underpass, etc. There were also reports of traffic disruption at Madhuban Chowk in northwest Delhi and from Dwarka Sector 6-7 red light to Sector-1 red light.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang India visit:
China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang will visit India to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' meeting in the national capital, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Qin is expected to meet his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on the sidelines of the G20 meeting, where according to reports, they are likely to discuss the border issues and review the outcome of talks at diplomatic and military levels, to resolve the matter.
The Chinese Foreign Minister's visit to New Delhi comes even as the two countries continue efforts to resolve border disputes along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh area and attempts of incursion by the People's Liberation Army of China. "At the invitation of Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang will attend the G20 foreign ministers conference in New Delhi, India on March 2," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement on Tuesday.
"As the main forum for international economic cooperation, the G20 should focus on addressing outstanding challenges in the field of international economy and development and play a greater role in promoting world economic recovery and global development," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning said. The Chinese Foreign Minister's meeting will be a first after his predecessor Wang Yi had visited India in 2019.
Relations between India and China have been uneasy since the Galwan valley standoff in May 2020. The March 1-2 meeting of G20 Foreign Ministers will be attended by Russia's Sergei Lavrov, US' Antony Blinken and the UK's James Cleverly. India has invited representatives of 40 countries, including non-G20 members. meeting of foreign ministers of the Quad countries- the US, India, Australia and Japan- is also scheduled to be held on the sidelines.
(With agencies inputs)
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