Shashi Tharoor Applauds India's G20 Sherpa for '200 Hours of Continuous Negotiations'

India's G20 sherpa, Amitabh Kant, revealed that achieving consensus on the G20 declaration was a challenging task, requiring nearly 200 hours of continuous negotiations. These negotiations were essential to secure a joint communique from G20 leaders who held divergent views on Russia's actions in Ukraine.

India's persistent efforts, backed by Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia, played a crucial role in reaching a consensus. Reports suggested that India circulated the final draft of the declaration to G20 members, emphasizing that without an agreement, there would be no declaration.

Sources indicated that India successfully convinced China to agree to the text concerning the Ukraine conflict after the European Union endorsed the text. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the adoption of the G20 leaders' declaration with consensus on the summit's first day, surprising many given the initial divisions between the Russia-China alliance and Western nations regarding the Ukraine issue.

The declaration was adopted following India's circulation of a new text addressing the Ukraine crisis in the draft leaders' declaration, breaking the deadlock. While the earlier draft had left the section on the "geopolitical situation" or the Ukraine crisis blank, negotiators managed to agree on 75 other paragraphs in the draft, covering various topics, including climate transition financing, multilateral development bank reform, and cryptocurrency regulation.

French diplomatic sources praised India's ability to bring countries together, acknowledging the country's negotiating prowess and compromise-building efforts on the Ukraine issue. European sources also applauded India's tough negotiation, considering the consensus on the declaration a remarkable achievement.

Regarding the absence of the term "Russian aggression" on Ukraine in the declaration, sources noted that Western countries were content with the overall outcomes of the negotiations, demonstrating India's effective role in facilitating agreement among diverse G20 member nations.

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