India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant during the G20 curtain raiser press conference in New Delhi, Friday, Sept 8, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
It took over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations by a team of Indian diplomats to deliver a consensus on the G20 declaration that was adopted at the Leaders' Summit in New Delhi, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said on Sunday.
The team of diplomats, including joint secretaries Eenam Gambhir and K Nagraj Naidu, held 300 bilateral meetings and circulated 15 drafts with their counterparts on the contentious Ukraine conflict to drive home a consensus that was clinched on the first day of the G20 Leaders Summit itself.
"The most complex part of the entire G20 was to bring consensus on the geopolitical paras (Russia-Ukraine). This was done over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings, 15 drafts," Kant said.
Kant said he was greatly assisted in the efforts by Naidu and Gambhir.
India managed to hammer out an unexpected consensus among the G20 countries on the contentious issue with emerging economies such as Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia playing a leading role in reaching the breakthrough.
The G20 leaders' declaration avoided mentioning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and made a general call to all states to follow the principle of respecting each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
"We call on all states to uphold the principles of international law, including territorial integrity and sovereignty, international humanitarian law, and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability," the declaration said.