Shortly before the start of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in India, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Indian colleague Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in the capital, New Delhi. Jaishankar said on Twitter on Wednesday that there had been talks about the cooperation between the two countries and also about G20 matters.
India holds the G20 presidency this year. The Ukraine war is likely to play a central role at the foreign ministers’ meeting. In the evening (local time) a meal was initially planned. The working sessions, to which German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) will also be attending, are scheduled for Thursday.
India is neutral on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, does not support Western sanctions and repeatedly advocates conflict resolution through dialogue. The world’s second most populous country has good relations with Western countries and also with Russia, on which it depends for much of its military equipment. During the war, India began buying more relatively cheap oil from Russia. Germany and other Western countries value the world’s largest democracy, India, as a value partner in the face of Russia and China.
The G20 includes the European Union and the strongest economies of every continent: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, France, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the USA. The group generates a good 80 percent of the world’s gross domestic product and accounts for around 60 percent of the world’s population.
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