India circulates new paragraph among G20 countries to describe Ukraine crisis in leaders' declaration

On Saturday, India circulated a new paragraph with the G20 member nations as part of the joint leaders' declaration, which is set to be presented at the conclusion of the two-day summit of the group, according to diplomatic sources.

With consensus eluding on the paragraph relating to the Ukraine conflict, India on Friday circulated a draft summit declaration among the member countries without the paragraph on the geopolitical issue in an attempt to hammer out a positive outcome.

India introduced the revised Ukraine-related text while G20 leaders commenced discussions on critical global issues during the inaugural day of the bloc's annual summit. The absence of a consensus on the Ukraine text could potentially lead to the unprecedented outcome of the summit concluding without a collective declaration, marking a first for the group.

There was no consensus on the text to describe the Ukraine issue at the G20 Sherpa meeting that took place in Nuh district of Haryana from September 3-6. Indian negotiators believe that there will be consensus on the new paragraph that was circulated on Saturday morning, the sources said.

The response of the Western powers as well as China and Russia to the new text was not known immediately. Two sources had earlier said the G7 countries are not agreeable to any leaders' declaration without reference to the Ukraine conflict. Both Russia and China had agreed to the two paragraphs on the Ukraine conflict in the Bali declaration but backtracked this year, creating difficulties for India.