The Group of 20 finance chiefs skipped issuing an agreed-upon statement from their meeting this week in Washington, extending the discord created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
India, which holds the G-20 presidency this year, released a statement Thursday - brief compared with the typical communiques - following the gathering on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund's Spring Meetings.
Thursday's statement said nations discussed "key challenges to the global economic outlook, including the war in Ukraine, food and energy insecurity, climate change, and recent risks to financial stability."
In addition, "members agreed that the G-20 can contribute to building a common understanding on fostering a conducive environment for global economic recovery, and ensuring that the most vulnerable countries and sections of the population are adequately protected."
At the ministers' previous gathering in February in Bengaluru, they issued a longer statement, which noted Russia and China declined to agree to two paragraphs that addressed the war.
The standoff continued at a meeting of G-20 foreign minsters in March, which also ended without consensus after China and Russia refused to join other members in a statement in which most of them condemned Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
G20 communiques usually lay out the group's agreement on what it sees as the biggest challenges for the global economy and how to address them. While negotiations around language can often be difficult, the war has made agreement essentially impossible, with Russia and China rejecting almost all efforts to address the conflict.
The lack of consensus since that February meeting is a retreat from consensus reached at the leaders' summit in Bali, Indonesia, during November. The drafters were able to wrangle all on board with compromise language.
