As India began its year-long presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged everyone to cooperate to tackle the greatest challenges of climate change, terrorism, and pandemics.
The Ukraine conflict, which started in February this year, dominated the two-day G20 summit in Indonesia last month, to the frustration of some members that wanted more attention on global economic woes.
“Today, we do not need to fight for our survival – our era need not be one of war. Indeed, it must not be one,” Modi said to mark the start of the G20 presidency.
“Today, the greatest challenges we face – climate change, terrorism, and pandemics – can be solved not by fighting each other, but only by acting together.”
Modi’s comment on war echoed a remark he made to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a regional conference in September when he told him now was not a time for war, widely interpreted as a mild rebuke of what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
He added that India would aim to depoliticize the global supply of food, fertilizers, and medical products so that geo-political tensions do not lead to global disruptions.
“As in our own families, those whose needs are the greatest must always be our first concern,” Modi said.
G20 members agreed at last month’s summit, on the Indonesian island of Bali, to pursue efforts to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 Celsius, including speeding up efforts to phase down the unabated use of coal.
With additional input from Reuters.
