France Says Not Many In Position To Negotiate As India: Sources On G20

No footnote or Chair's summary and a 100 per cent consensus on the Delhi G20 Declaration underlines "India's ability to bring countries together", French diplomatic sources have told NDTV, lavishing praise on New Delhi's negotiation abilities. 

"India has assumed a kind of power and an ability to bring countries together. Not many countries are in a position to negotiate as India has done, i.e. to take on board comments from everyone, and work out a compromise proposal. This is something important," a French diplomatic source told NDTV.

Addressing a press conference, Amitabh Kant, the G20 Sherpa, said that all 83 paras in the declaration have been unanimously supported with 100 per cent consensus.  

"All countries have unanimously supported the New Delhi Leaders Declaration. This is one declaration without a single footnote and without any Chairs Summary. This is a complete statement with 100 per cent unanimity," Mr Kant said.

G20 leaders have been deeply riven over the Ukraine war since Moscow's invasion last year, with Russian President Vladimir Putin skipping the summit to evade likely criticism.

Host India pressed members to agree to a common statement that watered down its earlier condemnation of the war. In the end, the G20 denounced the use of force for territorial gain but refrained from direct criticism of Russia by name.

"There were different views and assessments of the situation," the leaders' statement said.

This is a very satisfactory G20 declaration from our point of view, the French source said.

"The statement says that all States must refrain from conquering territories by force. Russia is the only country to have done so. All this helps to build consensus for the future," the source added.

"To achieve a language of consensus on a subject as divisive as Ukraine, we had to be able to reaffirm what we said in Bali, which we have done by recalling the Bali conversation; we had to refer to the United Nations texts, which are indeed mentioned; and then we had to affirm a few obvious points for us, but which are not necessarily obvious for everyone, i.e. that a war of territorial conquest is unacceptable, that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States must be respected, and that a just and lasting peace must respect these principles. All this is well incorporated in the text and, as was our main objective at this summit, enables us to look ahead to what should be the solution for a just and lasting peace at the end of the war in Ukraine," the source said further.

India's G20 Sherpa added that the New Delhi Declaration has a "huge India narrative" and will leave a huge footprint of India on G20.