'If we had perfect meetings of minds... There were differences on Ukraine which we could not reconcile': Jaishankar

New Delhi: No joint communique was issued on the G20 Foreign Ministers meet 2023 in New Delhi due to sharp differences over the Ukraine war despite constant efforts by host India to build consensus.

During a press conference on G20 outcomes, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said G20 has arrived at a consensus on many important issues, and has been adopted as a Chair’s Summary and Outcome document.

#WATCH | If we had perfect meetings of minds on all issues & captured it fully, it would have been collective statement but there were issues on which there were diveregences…There were differences on Ukraine issue which we could not reconcile: EAM pic.twitter.com/bfFxG5CRaN

— ANI (@ANI) March 2, 2023

At a media briefing, Jaishankar said that there were issues relating to Ukraine conflict. Several diplomats said there were deep divisions between the US-led West and Russia-China combine over the war.

Speaking on the failure to issue a joint communique, Jaishankar said, “There was a large number of issues where there was agreement: multilateralism, food and energy security, climate change, gender issues, global health, terrorism. There was a considerable meeting of minds. If we had a perfect meeting of minds, we could have had a collective statement, but divergences on Ukraine did come in the way of that."

“Despite differences on Ukraine, we all were able to reach consensus on other issues,” the India's foreign affairs minister said.

Ukraine issue impacting Global South

The EAM said: "The Ukraine issue is impacting Global South. India has been saying very strongly since a year that for much of the Global South this is a make or break issue. The costs of fuel, food and availability of fertilizer are extremely pressing issues."

He further said the countries that are already struggling with debt and impacted by the pandemic, for them the knock on effects of Russia-Ukraine crisis are damaging. "This matter is of deep concern that is why we have kept the focus of these meetings on the Global South and vulnerable countries," Jaishankar said.

"It’s not realistic and credible to talk about future of global economy or multilateral order if you are not able to really address and focus on the issues of those who are most in need," Jaishankar added.

All G20 countries condemned terrorism in all its forms, we discussed counter narcotics for first time too.

With inputs from agencies

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