EAM Dr S. Jaishankar further said that every G20 member in the summit will make a contribution to global politics…reports Asian Lite News
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has said that instead of focusing on leaders who have decided to skip the forthcoming G20 summit, the need is to focus on positions taken by nations on important issues.
Speaking at the ‘Doordarshan Dialogue, G20: The India Way’ on Monday, he said that ultimately countries are represented by whoever they have chosen to represent them, so the levels of representations don’t become the final determinant of the position of a country.
He said this in response to a question on Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin skipping the G20 summit, which is scheduled to be held between September 9 and 10.
Jaishankar further said that every G20 member in the summit will make a contribution to global politics.
“So I would say rather than focus necessarily on which country chooses to come at what level, the real issue is what position they take when they come. That’s really what it is, we will remember about this G20 for the outcomes it produced,” he added.
On Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry had announced that Jinping will not be attending the summit and in his place premier Li Qiang will attend the multilateral event.
Earlier last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed his inability to attend the G20 summit.
‘World changing, G20 its best statement’
The world is changing and the G20 itself is actually the best statement of it, which is today viewed as the premier global forum, according to Jaishankar.
In an interview with ANI, Jaishankar said, “Over the last many years, especially maybe over the last decade, perhaps a little bit more…the relative economic weight of countries have changed, the relative political confidence of countries have changed. The relationships especially of the major powers and the middle powers have changed”.
“So if you looked at it earlier on it was like very tight groupings and you let us say, particularly in the Western world, a very strong alliance structure,” he said.
Jaishankar pointed out that today there are many more independent countries, who are independent at a global level, a regional level, or the neighbourhood level.
“I think the world is changing and the G20 itself is actually the best statement of it…there was a time after all, we left everything to the G7 today the fact that you have G20. I mean, G20 is today seen as the premier global forum. After all, just think of the last year. Compare the G20 meeting to anything else that has happened, a NATO meeting I don’t know SCO meeting BRICS meeting Quad meeting a UN meeting. Nothing has evoked the kind of attention and focus that a G20 meeting has because the world recognizes today that this gathering has very exceptional importance,” Jaishankar said.
On being asked if the Russia-China alliance is creating a bigger impact on other countries, he added that the world of today is a much more multipolar and nuanced place.
“So, I would say do not see the world very starkly in terms of black and white and this camp and that camp. I am not saying that countries do not have their partialities and their relationships they do. But I think the world is a much more nuanced place. It is much more multipolar, there many more variables,” the foreign affairs minister said. (ANI)
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