The G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration called for the development of a “comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine” and encouraged nations to avoid from threatening to use force to annex territory. The proclamation avoided specifically blaming Russia for the conflict in Ukraine while emphasizing that “use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.”
“In line with the U.N. Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state,” the leaders said in the declaration that was adopted on the opening day of the G20 Summit in the national capital.
“Today’s era must not be of war”, the declaration asserted, echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a conference in Uzbekistan in 2022.
The consensus on the Delhi Declaration followed deep divisions within the grouping over the wording on the war in Ukraine.
“We call on all states to uphold the principles of international law including territorial integrity and sovereignty, international humanitarian law, and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability,” the declaration said.
The G20 leaders reaffirmed that the G20 is the leading forum for international economic cooperation and emphasized that, while not the forum to address geopolitical and security challenges, these issues can have a substantial impact on the world economy.
“We highlighted the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation and growth, which has complicated the policy environment for countries, especially developing and least developed countries which are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic disruption which has derailed progress towards the SDGs,” the declaration stated.
