New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said, "global governance has failed" and multilateralism is in crisis as he opened a Foreign Ministers' meeting of the G20 where Russia's war in Ukraine has taken centre-stage.
Multilateral institutions had failed to meet the world's most pressing challenges, PM Modi said in a recorded message before the first session of the Foreign Ministers' meet.
" We must all acknowledge that multilateralism is in crisis today...The experience of the last few years - financial crisis, climate change, pandemic, terrorism and wars - clearly shows that global governance has failed," he said.
"After years of progress, we are at risk today of moving back on the sustainable development goals. Many developing countries are struggling with unsustainable debts while trying to ensure food and energy security. They are also most affected by global warming caused by richer countries. This is why India's G20 presidency has tried to give a voice to the global south," the Prime Minister said.
PM Modi urged world leaders to find "common ground" on divisive issues.
"We are meeting at a time of deep global divisions. We have a responsibility to those not in this room," said the PM.
"We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can."
PM Modi said no group could claim global leadership without listening to those most affected by its decisions. "We must focus on what unites us, not on what divides us," he asserted.
Some 40 delegations are participating in the G20 Foreign Ministers' meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Center.
Besides the G20 member countries, the foreign ministers of nine guest countries are also participating in the meet - Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
The ministers are expected to discuss key global challenges as they meet amid an widening rift between the US-led West and the Russia-China combine on the Ukraine war. India is set to make all-out efforts for a joint statement following the meeting.
Russia on Sunday alleged that the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Bengaluru ended without a joint communique because of the "confrontational" approach towards Moscow by the "collective West" over the situation in Ukraine.