Focus on countries’ position on key issues: Jaishankar on Xi, Putin skipping G20 meet

With Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping deciding to skip the upcoming G20 Summit in Delhi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday (September 4) said the focus should be on the position taken by countries on key burning issues than on the levels of representation at the conclave.

“At the end of the day, countries are represented by whoever they have chosen to represent them. The levels of representation do not become the final determinant of the position of a country,” Jaishankar said.

He made the remarks during a discussion on Doordarshan.

“Will be remembered for outcomes”

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced in Beijing on Monday that President Xi will not attend the G20 Summit and the Chinese delegation will be led by Li Qiang.

Putin has already conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi his decision to not attend the summit in-person, as he has to focus on the “special military operation” in Ukraine. Putin had skipped the Bali summit of G20 in November last year as well.

In his comments on Doordarshan, Jaishankar said this year’s G20 summit will be remembered for the “outcomes it produced”, adding that the focus should be on solutions and actions to tackle the burning issues of the day.

The G20 grouping

In its capacity as the current president of G20, India is hosting the annual summit of the influential grouping in New Delhi on September 9 and 10.

The G20 member countries represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union (EU).