300 Meetings, 200 Hours Of Non-Stop Negotiations Led To Consensus On Ukraine: India's Sherpa

Amitabh Kant, India's G20 Sherpa, revealed on Sunday that a group of Indian diplomats dedicated more than 200 hours of continuous negotiations to secure a consensus on the G20 declaration during the Leaders' Summit.

This team of diplomats, featuring joint secretaries Eenam Gambhir and K Nagraj Naidu, conducted a remarkable 300 bilateral meetings and distributed 15 draft documents to engage in constructive discussions with their counterparts regarding the challenging Ukraine conflict. Their relentless efforts paid off, resulting in the consensus being achieved on the very first day of the G20 Leaders Summit.

"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, 15 drafts," Kant told PTI.

Kant acknowledged that Naidu and Gambhir provided invaluable support during the negotiations. India successfully orchestrated an unforeseen agreement within the G20 nations, with significant contributions from emerging economies like Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia, who took the lead in achieving this breakthrough.

The G20 leaders' declaration tactfully omitted any explicit reference to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, instead issuing a broad call to all states to uphold the fundamental principle of respecting each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

"We call on all states to uphold the principles of international law, including territorial integrity and sovereignty, international humanitarian law, and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability," the declaration said.