India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Friday said geopolitical conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine war are best addressed by the United Nations as G20 is an economic body to promote global growth.
Speaking at B20 Summit India 2023 being organised by CII, Kant however expressed hope that India would be able to convince G20 nations for finding an amicable way out. He was responding to a question relating to the war.
Several G20 groups have not been able to come out with a joint declaration on account of the war. Kant's comments come days before the G20 Summit under India's presidency scheduled early next month.
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"G20 is actually an economic body. It's a body for growth. The political body is the United Nations, but issues of war lead to challenges on food, fuel and fertilizer, and therefore there's a huge implication in terms of economics, that is what other countries are saying," he said.
Stressing that "the war is not our creation", Kant said the challenge is to put developmental issues right in the forefront.
"On the issues of war, last year in Bali, we fell back on the United Nations resolution, and ... we are quite hopeful that we will convince everybody to find an amicable (way out) to the geopolitical issues," he said.
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Referring to India's G20 presidency, he said it is happening at a time when the country has managed to accelerate its pace of growth.
"India is the 5th largest economy in the world. Soon in 2027, it will be the 3rd largest economy in the world," Kant said, as he listed out priorities for India's G20 presidency.
Kant highlighted the developments made by India in recent years with regard to infrastructure development, digital initiatives, and startups.
Later talking to reporters, Kant said all task forces set up by B20 have made very positive suggestions.
"We will examine them, take them to G20 Sherpas and see how many of these suggestions to take forward to the leaders," he said.
Highlighting that the private sector is critical for growth, India's G20 Sherpa further said India's Prime Minister’s philosophy as the leader of G20 is that the government must be a facilitator and a catalyst.
When asked about suggestions for a common framework for the Generative Artificial Intelligence and resilient workforce for MSMEs, Kant said this is an issue where the leaders will take a call.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday will address B20 Summit India 2023, which will be attended by over 1,700 business leaders and experts from across the world.
Business 20 or B20 is one of the G20 forums representing the global business community, which was set up in 2010. The G20 Summit will be held next month.
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In all, 54 recommendations and more than 170 policy actions will be released with the unveiling of the B20 India communique.
The B20 presidency will be handed over to Brazil at the end of the summit on Sunday. The theme of B20 is focused on ensuring responsible, accelerated, innovative, sustainable and equitable access to all businesses.
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