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The G20 in New Delhi has begun. The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, kicked off the proceedings after welcoming the leaders to the Bharat Mandapam convention centre. “The world is suffering from a crisis of confidence,” Modi said in his opening remarks. Then he announced that the African Union officially has a place in the G20 as a permanent member. Among those present at the summit are Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and US President Joe Biden. Surprisingly, Chinese President Xi Jinping is not present, while the absence of the head of the Kremlin Vladimir Putin was obvious. War in Ukraine, energy and climate are the themes at the center of the summit, which since 2008 has been a place of synthesis of the different requests of the twenty most industrialized and emerging countries. The first session is dedicated to the theme “One Land”, the second to the theme “One Family”, following the Indian presidency’s approach on inclusiveness, the search for solutions, ambition and decision. Meanwhile, agreement on the final document has not yet been reached.
The African Union is a permanent member
After opening the proceedings, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the African Union is a permanent member of the G20. Modi then invited African Union President Azali Assoumani, president of Comoros, to take his seat. Assoumani then sat among the other leaders, while an employee placed the AU card and the green flag of the international organization on the table. A historic moment, greeted by the applause of the leaders.
An agreement is sought on the final document
“Cascading crises” have posed challenges to long-term economic growth: coordinated macroeconomic policies are needed to support the world economy. This is the message that the G20 intends to launch in the final communiqué, after US Treasury Secretary Yellen’s warning about the damage caused by the Russian invasion, defined by far the most destabilizing factor for the global economy and also the one of greatest uncertainty for global geopolitical structures. But precisely on the war there are “divergences” in the drafting of the text, which we will try to overcome with all-out negotiations given that the ministerial meetings ended without the approval of a final document. The main stumbling block in the final declaration remains Ukraine, given the resistance from Beijing and obviously from Moscow, represented at the summit respectively by Prime Minister Li Qiang and Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov. “Almost everything has been done, only the only disagreements remain on the war in Ukraine”, said Italian diplomatic sources. Most countries, they explained, have set themselves the goal of mentioning Russian aggression and the Indian presidency also agrees, but there is a hardening of Russia, greatly supported by China. An agreement of 20 is being sought, as an alternative to “19+1” or at least “18+2”: in the latter two cases it would be a step backwards compared to the consensus of 20 of a year ago in Bali.
Meloni’s meetings
Meanwhile, yesterday Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: cooperation on the migration dossier was at the center, but also the challenges of artificial intelligence, among the crucial points of one of the Prime Minister’s two speeches scheduled at the G20. Today, however, on the sidelines of the G20 there is scheduled a bilateral meeting between Meloni and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang, a meeting with the host, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and another bilateral meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. Among the other meetings being worked on on the sidelines of the summit in India, there is also the one with the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al Sisi.
Source-tg24.sky.it