Shashi Tharoor hails ‘Delhi Declaration’ consensus of G20 nations on Ukraine issue

India managed to hammer out an unexpected consensus among the G20 countries on the contentious Ukraine conflict through a series of hectic negotiations with emerging economies such as Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia playing a leading role in reaching the agreement on the declaration.

It is important to look at the nature of the consensus with the document as the declaration actually reflects “47 sub-consensus” in a range of issues, the sources said.

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Shashi Tharoor hails Sherpa Amitabh Kant

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday hailed India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant for the “Delhi Declaration” consensus, and said it was a “proud moment for India at G20”.

Tagging Kant’s remarks in an interview on how the consensus was achieved in the paragraphs on Russia-Ukraine, Tharoor said in a post on X, “Well done @amitabhk87! Looks like the IFS lost an ace diplomat when you opted for the IAS!”

Tharoor, a former under-secretary-general at the UN, said in his post late Saturday night, “‘Negotiated with Russia, China, only last night got final draft,’ says India’s G20 Sherpa on ‘Delhi Declaration’ consensus. A proud moment for India at G20!”

Well done ⁦@amitabhk87⁩! Looks lile the IFS lost an ace diplomat when you opted for the IAS! "Negotiated with Russia, China, only last night got final draft," says India's G20 Sherpa on 'Delhi Declaration' consensus.
A proud moment for India at G20! https://t.co/9M0ki7appY

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 9, 2023

India on Saturday pulled off a big diplomatic win after the G20 summit adopted a consensus declaration overcoming major differences on the Russia-Ukraine war.

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‘Took 200 hours of non-stop negotiations’

On Sunday, Kant said it took over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations by a team of Indian diplomats to deliver a consensus on the G20 declaration that was adopted at the Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi.

The team of diplomats, including joint secretaries Eenam Gambhir and K Nagraj Naidu, held 300 bilateral meetings and circulated 15 drafts with their counterparts on the contentious Ukraine conflict to drive home a consensus that was clinched on the first day of the G20 Leaders Summit itself.

“The most complex part of the entire G20 was to bring consensus on the geopolitical paras (Russia-Ukraine). This was done over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings and 15 drafts,” Kant said.

Kant said he was greatly assisted in the efforts by Naidu and Gambhir.

Explaining it further, the sources said the declaration has around 10 broad themes and 37 sub-heads and all the countries agreed on all of them.

Overall, the outcome at the G20 Summit demonstrated India and its leadership as a “junction box of democratic values”, the sources said.

The paragraphs on the Ukraine conflict in the New Delhi declaration must not be looked at from the perspective of last year’s Bali declaration, they said.

‘A convergent consensus’

“It is a convergent consensus rather than a divisive consensus,” said one of the sources, noting that the approach featured in the declaration reflected a “stable” framework to deal with the crisis while divisive consensus is always “fragile”.

“The story of the consensus is a remarkable one and the overall approach in the document reflected a larger context. The paragraphs relating to the Ukraine conflict are much more than transactional. That is why the external affairs minister said Bali is Bali and New Delhi is New Delhi,” the source said.

The declaration issued at the G20’s Bali summit last November had deplored in the strongest terms the Russian aggression against Ukraine while most members strongly condemned the war. The New Delhi declaration does not feature these formulations.

“With regard to the comparison with the Bali Declaration, I would only say Bali was Bali and New Delhi is New Delhi. I mean, Bali was a year ago,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at a media briefing on Saturday.

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“The situation was different. Many things have happened since then. And in fact, If you see in the geo-political segment of the leader’s declaration, there are, in total, eight paragraphs, seven of which actually focus on the Ukraine issue,” he said.

“I think one should not have a theological view of this. I think the New Delhi Declaration responds to the situation and concerns as it is today, just as the Bali Declaration did in a situation which was there a year ago.”

The New Delhi G20 Declaration referred only to the “war in Ukraine”, and noted with “deep concern the immense human suffering and the adverse impact of wars and conflicts around the world.”

Asked whether China created problems for the negotiators, the sources indicated that it was not so and said India followed an inclusive approach that focused on taking along everyone.

(With PTI inputs)