As he opened a G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting where Russia’s war in Ukraine has taken centre stage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today, “global governance has failed” and multilateralism is in crisis.
Multilateral institutions had failed to meet the world’s most pressing challenges, Prime Minister Modi said in a pre-meeting recorded message.
“We must all admit that multilateralism is in crisis right now…
The recent experience – financial crisis, climate change, pandemic, terrorism, and wars – clearly demonstrate that global governance has failed “He stated.
“After years of progress, we are now on the verge of abandoning the Sustainable Development Goals. Many developing countries are burdened by unsustainable debts while attempting to ensure food and energy security. They are also the most vulnerable to global warming caused by wealthier countries. This is why India’s G20 presidency has attempted to give the global south a voice “said the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Modi urged world leaders to find “common ground” on contentious issues.
“We are meeting at a time when the world is deeply divided. We have a responsibility to those who are not present in this room “said the Prime Minister.
“We must not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to obstruct those that we can.”
According to Prime Minister Modi, no group can claim global leadership unless it listens to those most affected by its decisions. “We must concentrate on what brings us together rather than what divides us,” he said.
Forty delegations are attending the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Center.
Foreign ministers from nine guest countries, including Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates, are also present at the meeting.
The ministers are expected to discuss key global issues as they meet amid a growing schism between the US-led West and the Russia-China alliance over the Ukraine conflict. Following the meeting, India intends to make every effort to issue a joint statement.
Russia claimed on Sunday that the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Bengaluru ended without a joint communique due to the “confrontational” attitude of the “collective West” towards Moscow over the situation in Ukraine.
