A source who wished to remain anonymous said that India is hopeful of getting a common stance from the G-20 countries on how to describe Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
The source said that unlike last year in Indonesia, where there were frequent walkouts during similar discussions, the recent meetings have seen more cooperation among different countries.
The source added that this could lead to a possible compromise like the one reached last November in Bali, but warned that any worsening of the war could disrupt this delicate balance.
India, which will host the annual G-20 summit in September, is facing pressure to prove that it can broker a deal after two major meetings this year ended with Russia and China rejecting the language on the war.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tried to use India’s G-20 presidency to “depoliticize” the supply chains of food and fertilizer that have been affected by the war.
India’s chief G-20 negotiator, Amitabh Kant, said on Thursday that the group is still far from agreeing on the language in a joint statement at the leaders meeting in September. He said that the group also needs to address urgent issues such as global debt and climate change as part of that.
“The Russia-Ukraine issue cannot block many other issues,” Kant told reporters in the scenic beach town of Kumarakom in southern India, where the negotiators were meeting this week. Billboards leading to the venue read “Welcome sherpas, may the backwaters lead you forward.”
Kant said he had a “very positive and optimistic” meeting with his Russian counterpart Svetlana Lukash on Thursday, saying they “talked about everything under the sun.”