G20 ministerial meeting without joint communiqué because of war in Ukraine
The development ministers of the leading industrial and emerging countries (G20) were unable to agree on a joint final declaration at their meeting in India because of the dispute over the Ukraine war. Instead, India, the country holding the presidency, published its own summary of the deliberations on Monday, as it had done at previous G20 meetings.
At the meeting in the city of Varanasi, most states again strongly condemned Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. They demanded an unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory. Russia and China did not agree to the relevant paragraphs.
The summary went on to say that all participants spoke out in favor of advancing the implementation of global sustainability goals such as ending poverty and hunger by 2030. This was decided by the United Nations in 2015. Among other things, it was mentioned that sustainable development is not possible without gender equality.
Development Minister Svenja Schulze said that this was the first time the G20 had realized this. “Gender justice and the empowerment of women and girls are a human rights issue, but also a matter of common sense. Because they lead to better development,” said the minister. In her opinion, this signal is urgently needed before the mid-term summit of the 2030 Agenda in New York in September. “India managed to achieve a good result in a difficult geopolitical situation,” said Schulze.