India's Modi calls for unity at G20 meeting

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi on Thursday by urging nations to focus on common ground during divisive times.

"We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can," he said in his address.

War in Ukraine takes precedence

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the main topic of discussion at the gathering of 19 nations and the European Union. 

The meeting got underway with the United States repeating its call for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine.

"Unfortunately, this meeting has again been marred by Russia's unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, adding that G20 countries must continue to call on Moscow to halt its invasion.

There is concern among Western delegates that China is considering supplying arms to Moscow. They are expected to use the summit to discourage Beijing from intervening in the war, which began more than a year ago.

Host India has refused to condemn the Russian invasion and has called for talks to de-escalate the conflict. This has put New Delhi in an awkward position with Western nations. However, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was confident India would "make Russia understand this war has to finish."

Borrell told reporters that "the success of the meeting today will be measured in respect to what we will be able to do on that." He is scheduled to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of the gathering.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua last week quoted top diplomat Wang Yi as saying Beijing was willing to "strengthen strategic coordination" with Russia after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Blinken said he had no plans to privately meet with his Russian counterpart, Lavrov. The last time the two met at a G20 gathering in Bali, Lavrov stormed off, according to officials.

"If Russia — President Putin — were genuinely prepared to engage in meaningful diplomacy necessary to end the aggression, of course we'd be the first to work to engage, but there's zero evidence of that," Blinken said.

'Neutrality rewards the aggressor,' says Baerbock

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met with her Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang, on Thursday.

"In the face of Russia's brutal attack on Ukraine and the UN Charter, neutrality rewards the aggressor," the German Foreign Ministry tweeted.

"Last week, a year since the start of the Russian offensive, a large majority of nations at the UN General Assembly called out this brutal war for what it is," Baerbock said in a statement.

What else is on the agenda?

Other topics of discussion at the meeting include the climate crisis, and food, energy and fertilizer security. 

"The G20 was created to give the world hope that our most pressing problems could be resolved. That is why I am traveling to Delhi to put forward Germany's priorities: we are working on solutions to the debt crisis because far too many countries are at risk of collapsing under their huge debt burden," Baerbock said.

India had wanted its G20 presidency this year to focus on issues such as alleviating poverty and climate finance, but the Ukraine war has so far crowded out other agenda items.

G20 finance ministers met in Bengaluru last week, but failed to agree on a common statement due to a lack of consensus on Russia. A "chair's summary and outcome document" was issued instead.

tg/nm (dpa, AFP, Reuters)