India clinches a diplomatic breakthrough, G20 adopts Delhi Declaration without rapping Russia for its war in Ukraine

The breakthrough in the negotiation over the ‘Delhi Declaration’ came when New Delhi succeeded in persuading the US and the rest of the West to agree on a draft text that did not criticise Russia while acknowledging the consequences of the war in Ukraine for the global economy.

The G20 leaders on Saturday reached a consensus on a declaration, which refrained from condemning Russia for its “special military operations” in Ukraine but took note of the negative impact of the war on the economy as well as food and energy security around the world.

The uncertainty over the outcome document ended even before the first day of the 18^th G20 summit concluded. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was chairing the conclave, announced that the premier forum for international economic cooperation had reached a consensus on the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration. He then went on to announce its adoption as the other G20 leaders thumped their desks.

The breakthrough in the negotiation over the ‘Delhi Declaration’ came when New Delhi succeeded in persuading the United States and the rest of the West to agree on a draft text that did not criticise Russia while acknowledging the significant consequences of the war in Ukraine for the global economy.

The G20 leaders, according to the ‘Delhi Declaration’, noted with “deep concern the immense human suffering and the adverse impact of wars and conflicts around the world”. The declaration recalled the discussion the leaders had during the 17^th summit of the bloc at Bali in Indonesia in November 2022 about the “war in Ukraine”. It also referred to the respective national positions of the G20 members and the resolutions adopted at the United Nations Security Council and the General Assembly about the conflict.

“All states must act in a manner consistent with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in its entirety,” the G20 leaders stated in the ‘Delhi Declaration’.

“In line with the UN Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state. The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.”

But, unlike the 2022 “G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration”, the outcome document of the 2023 summit of the intergovernmental forum refrained not only from deploring Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The ‘Bali Declaration’ had demanded “complete and unconditional withdrawal” of Russia’s armed forces from the territory of Ukraine. The ‘Delhi Declaration’, however, made no such demand on behalf of the G20.

“Bali was Bali, Delhi is Delhi. Many things have happened since the ‘Bali Declaration’,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said after the adoption of the ‘Delhi Declaration’. “One should not have a theological view of this. The ‘New Delhi Declaration’ responds to the situation as it stands today. The ‘New Delhi Declaration’ responds to the concerns of today just like the ‘Bali Declaration’ responded to the concerns of that time,” he said, replying to a query on the differences in the language on the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the two documents adopted by the G20 leaders in 2022 and 2023.

The Delhi Declaration also referred to the conflict as “war in Ukraine” and not “war against Ukraine”. Russia had been demanding that ‘against Ukraine’ in the Bali Declaration should be replaced with ‘in Ukraine’ in the outcome document of the summit being hosted by India.

The G20 leaders, according to the ‘Delhi Declaration’, called for “full, timely and effective implementation” not only of the Black Sea grain initiative for the safe export of Ukraine’s grain through its southern ports without any military offensive or blockade by Russia but also the parallel agreement for unimpeded export of grains, foodstuff and fertilizers from Russia.

Moscow had withdrawn from the Black Sea grain initiative on July 17 this year, alleging that the parallel agreement had not been honoured and sanctions and restrictions on shipping and insurance had hit the agricultural trade of Russia.

The deal, brokered by Türkiye and the United Nations, allowed Ukraine, one of the breadbaskets of the world, to safely export its grain through its southern ports via the Bosphorus without any military offensive or blockage by Russia.

Moscow, however, withdrew from the deal on July 17 this year, alleging that a parallel agreement that promised to remove hurdles for the export of food and fertiliser from Russia had not been honoured and sanctions and restrictions on shipping and insurance had hit the country’s agricultural trade.

Reaching a consensus on the ‘Delhi Declaration’ had appeared to be difficult till recently, particularly due to differences over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The West, led by the United States and the European Union, as well as Japan and a few other nations had been insisting on retaining the Bali Declaration’s strong condemnation of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Russia and China, which had endorsed the Bali Declaration, however, had been opposing it. The G20 Sherpas had met at Manesar in Haryana earlier this week but failed to end the impasse, as an alternative text proposed by New Delhi had been rejected by the western nations.

The meetings between Jaishankar and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Jakarta on Wednesday as well as between Modi and the US President Joe Biden in New Delhi on Friday, however, helped narrow the differences. The breakthrough finally came when India, the host of the G20 summit this year, proposed a new text on the issue of the conflict just before the leaders met for the annual conclave on Saturday.

The ‘Delhi Declaration’ apparently accommodated the views of Moscow and Beijing much more than that of the West, although Russian and Chinese presidents, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, did not attend the summit in the national capital of India. Lavrov and Chinese Premier Li Qiang led the delegation from Moscow and Beijing respectively.

The breakthrough on the geopolitical issues led to the adoption of the 2023 outcome document on the first day of the summit itself, unlike the ‘Bali Declaration’, which had been adopted after much wrangling on the last day of the 2022 summit.

“This is a declaration of 83 paras. There are a lot of subjects covered, but, obviously, because of the ongoing conflict and the different views on it, considerable time was spent in the last few days with regard to the geopolitical issues which were mostly centred around the war in Ukraine,” the external affairs minister said.

“Actually, everybody helped. Everybody came together to forge a consensus, but emerging markets took a particular lead on this and many of us have a strong history of working together. Bear in mind that actually, you have four developing countries in succession for the G20 presidency...Indonesia, us (India), Brazil and South Africa,” said Jaishankar, replying to a question on which nations helped narrow differences over the declaration.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also spoke to the leaders of the western nations and persuaded them to accept the Delhi Declaration without any strong condemnation of Russia for its ‘special military operations’ in Ukraine.

“It is a very polarising issue and there is a spectrum of views, we are being transparent...In all fairness, it was only right to record what was the reality in the meeting rooms and that is the sense that is sought to be captured”, said the external affairs minister.

India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that “tough and ruthless” negotiations over the draft declaration continued for several days. “With 83 paras and absolutely no dissent, no footnotes, no chair summaries – the #NewDelhiLeadersDeclaration symbolises unparalleled global consensus,” he posted on X.