G20 Summit: Consensus reached on leaders' declaration, says PM Modi

livemint.com:

Narendra Modi during a session on Saturday. “Through the hard work of our teams, and through the cooperation of you all, we have reached agreement on the New Delhi G20 Leaders Summit Declaration. I propose that we adopt this New Delhi Leaders Declaration," Modi said, addressing his counterparts at a session.

Modi thanked ministers, sherpas and officials involved in making consensus possible. It was initially unclear whether G20 member countries would be able to agree to a joint communique, due to highly publicised differences between different camps on the issue of how the Ukraine war would be referred to in the joint declaration. In 2022, Russia and China acquiesced to the Bali Declaration, which said that most members criticised Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

It also called for countries to uphold international law and respect principles laid down in the UN Charter. However, during India’s presidency, Russia and China refused to endorse similar language on Ukraine. India has so far been releasing an “Outcome Document and Chair’s Summary" statement in place of a joint declaration at the end of major G20 meetings as a result of this.

Had negotiations been unsuccessful, it would have been the first G20 Summit where a joint declaration was not agreed to. Senior officials of the European Union had indicated the draft text put forward by India did not go far enough in expressing G7 concerns about Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, they also indicated flexibility in modifying language related to the war, which India may be keen to capitalize on.