Russia-Ukraine conflict shadow over G20 meet

BENGALURU: The shadow of the Russia-Ukraine conflict looms large over the first G20 ministerial meeting under India’s presidency, with the West seeking to highlight the issue and seek a mention in the communique at the gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors.
The ministerial meeting coincides with the first anniversary of the war that has claimed several thousand lives, pushed up global commodity prices, disrupted supply chains and put the global economy in fresh uncertainty, just when it seemed to be emerging from the Covid-19 shock.The deputies begin the discussions on Wednesday, which will be followed by the two-day meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors, starting Friday. The war in Ukraine had a bearing on deliberations last year as well under Indonesia’s presidency.
The time, India as the host is keen that discussions focus around the key issues affecting economies around the world, while the US and its allies are seeking to put a spotlight on the impact of the war on Thursday, even as the Russian foreign minister and central bank governor are expected to skip the deliberations on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The Chinese too may not send their top representatives to this meeting of FMs and central bank governors. This is the first among the four such meetings lined up in the run up to the leaders’ summit in Delhi in September.
Government officials conceded that the war in Ukraine is going to be a key item on the table. And, this means that attention on several crucial issues — from regulating cryptocurrencies, climate finance and dealing with fragile finances of several developing countries — may be limited, at least in this round. For India, the challenge is two-fold. One, it is the host and two, it has refused to restrict its relations with Russia, importing unprecedented quantities of crude oil at lower prices and using it to meet some of its domestic requirements as well as exporting diesel and petrol to several parts of the globe including Europe and the US.