The G20 summit concluded its activities today, Sunday, in New Delhi, with India handing over the presidency of the summit to Brazil. The United States and Russia praised the consensus declaration which refrained from criticizing Moscow over the war in Ukraine but urged member states to avoid the use of force. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested the group leaders to hold a virtual meeting in November to review progress on the proposed policies and announced goals from the summit. He stated in a press release: "Our responsibility is to consider the proposals that were presented to see ways to accelerate progress on them."
**Return to the Grain Agreement**
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the G20 summit in India as successful, stating that “Russia managed to ensure that the Ukrainian conflict did not overshadow the G20 agenda due to the unified stance of countries in the Global South.” He confirmed in a press conference that "Russia is ready to return to the Black Sea grain agreement once its conditions are met," and noted that "Moscow values the United Nations' attempts to facilitate discussions regarding the grain agreement." Lavrov, who headed the Russian delegation, remarked that "the summit was successful for India as well as for the Global South, the developing countries." He mentioned that the stance of the Global South helped ensure that the Ukrainian conflict did not dominate the G20 agenda, adding: "India has already united G20 members from the Global South."
Furthermore, the Russian news agency Interfax quoted Russia's representative in the group, Svitlana Lukash, saying, "This was one of the most difficult G20 summits in the forum's nearly twenty-year history... It took nearly 20 days to agree on the declaration before the summit and five days here." She added: "This was not only due to some disagreements on the topic of Ukraine but also due to divergent positions on all major issues, chiefly climate change and the transition to low-carbon energy systems."
**The White House**
For his part, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed to reporters that "the declaration coming from the summit does well in defending the principle that countries should not use force to seize territory or violate the territorial integrity or political independence of other states." Germany and Britain also praised the decision, but Ukraine stated that it is "not something to be proud of."
**Macron**
In another development, French President Emmanuel Macron indicated on Sunday that "the G20, established to address international economic issues, is not necessarily the right place to expect diplomatic progress on the war in Ukraine." He considered in a press conference that "the G20 declaration does not represent a diplomatic victory for Russia, which left the summit isolated." Additionally, Macron confirmed that "if France must redeploy forces to Niger, it will only do so in coordination with the president who was ousted in the coup, Mohamed Bazoum."
