Tuesday, February 18th, 2025

When consensus could not be reached on the manifesto an hour before the G-20 summit, what did PM Modi say? Amitabh Kant revealed

New Delhi: Prime Minister one hour before the start of the G-20 summit on September 9, 2023 Narendra Modi Had asked Sherpa Amitabh Kant about the status of ‘New Delhi Leaders Summit Declaration’. When he/she was told that there were some issues, he/she said that he/she wanted to see a consensus on the outcome soon. Amitabh Kant immediately negotiated with fellow Sherpas and succeeded in reaching a final consensus. These behind-the-scenes events are mentioned in Amitabh Kant’s new book ‘How India Scaled Mount G20: The Inside Story of the G-20 Presidency’.

India scored a major diplomatic victory when a declaration on the Russia-Ukraine war was unanimously adopted at the G-20 summit despite differences of opinion. PM Modi had announced the consensus on the 37-page declaration and its subsequent adoption at the beginning of the second session of the two-day summit of the group of major developed and developing countries on the first day.

Amitabh Kant says that, however, reaching the final draft of the New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Declaration (NDLD) was not at all easy. In the book published by Rupa Prakashan, Kant writes that even after 300 hours of discussion in 250 bilateral meetings, there were continuous amendments and objections to the text. All participants felt the importance and seriousness of the negotiations, but finding a mutually agreeable outcome still seemed distant.

Amitabh Kant said that Prime Minister Modi was fully aware of what was at stake in this. he/she asked me to send a status report every two hours. It was a task that required a lot of multitasking and quick analysis. This constant communication not only kept Prime Minister Modi informed about everything, but also kept us constantly engaged in the work, which helped us prepare the outline of the talks and take stock of our progress.

According to Amitabh Kant, Russia insisted on including the word ‘sanctions’. This resulted in extensive discussions with Alexander Pankin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, lasting two and a half hours, to persuade him/her to reconsider. he/she said there was a lot at stake, because not agreeing would have isolated Russia and the vote would have been 19-1 against. We finally had to tell Russia that this was not possible and that other countries would not accept it. We made it clear to Russia that its insistence on this issue would put a lot of pressure on India and make it impossible for us to move forward.

Amitabh Kant said that during the entire talks, G7 countries were pressurizing India to invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but India’s stance was that the guest list should be limited to G20 leaders only. he/she said that on the advice of External Affairs Minister Dr. Jaishankar, I had to tell the Russian interlocutor that if he/she did not agree, Zelensky would be the first speaker after Prime Minister Modi’s speech. This bold and firm negotiation strategy ultimately worked and Russia’s stance softened.

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