The meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) under India’s presidency may not see consensus on a communique as more countries are insist they will not step back from the wordings of the G20 Bali declaration. However, considering India’s stand on Russia, this seems to be difficult.
On Saturday, hours before beginning the final session to adopt a communique, Vice-President and Minister for Economy & Digitalization, Nadia Calviño, admitted that discussions have been getting more difficult. “We have made progress on many of the open issues and the key issue regarding language on war, I can share the position of Spain, which is very much aligned with the G7 position and that we cannot go back on the language that was agreed by our leaders in Bali and these have to feature in the communique,” she said here in a press conference.
Spain is the invited member to the G20 meeting. “It seems now that war is the single most important factor bringing uncertainty and fragility to the world economy,” she said.
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The G20 Bali leaders’ declaration issued on November 16, 2022, noted that the war in Ukraine further adversely impacted the global economy. Leaders during discussion reiterated their national positions as expressed in other fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, where a resolution deplored in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demanded its complete and unconditional withdrawal from Ukraine.
“Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy - constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks. There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. Recognising that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy,” the declaration had said.
On Friday, France pressed for no ‘step back’ from the G20 Bali leaders’ declaration. “We will oppose any step back from the declaration of the leaders in Bali. We strongly condemn this illegal and brutal attack against Ukraine, and we don’t want any step back,” Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of Economy, Finance and Digital and Industrial Sovereignty, said here in a press conference. This statement has come at a time, when the Russia-Ukraine war completes one year with no sign of an end to it. On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Janet L Yellen vowed more sanctions against Russia.