Bali, Indonesia
\nThe annual G20 Summit opened here on Tuesday with world leaders set to discuss over the next two days challenges triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and more recently topped by Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.
\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed at the summit venue by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, ahead of the formal opening of the summit.
\n\u201cRecover Together, Recover Stronger. Indonesian President @jokowi welcomes PM @narendramodi for the G20 Bali Summit. Detailed deliberations on contemporary global challenges including food & energy security and health are on the @g20org Summit agenda today,\u201d Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.
\nAfter the meeting in Indonesia, India will take over the Group of 20 presidency for one year.
\n\u2018Recover Together, Recover Stronger\u2019 was the theme picked by Indonesia when it took charge last year. But the Russia-Ukraine war that began in February now threatens food and fuel shortages.
\nThe leaders will hold three working sessions \u2013 on food and energy security, digital transformations, and health. Modi is expected to participate in all three.
\nOn the sidelines of the summit, Modi has bilateral meetings scheduled for Wednesday with Indonesian President Widodo, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, French President Emmanuel Macron and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
\nThe list declared so far by Delhi does not mention Chinese President Xi Jinping, with whom Modi has not met face to face since the Galwan Valley clash between the troops from both sides in 2020.
\nThere was no mention either of a separate meeting with Britain\u2019s new prime minister Rishi Sunak. But there is a possibility of more bilateral meetings being squeezed into the schedule.
\nThe G20 comprises 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the USA and the European Union (EU).
\nTogether, they account for over 80 per cent of the global GDP, 75 per cent of international trade and two-thirds of the world population.
\nA day ahead of the summit, US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi met for three and a half hours in Bali, striking a conciliatory tone against the backdrop of a strain in their ties over self-ruled Taiwan.
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin has opted out of the Bali summit and sent foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to represent the country.
\nBut western leaders who seemed to be preparing for a possible showdown over Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine are unlikely to back down. Russia can expect flak, for instance, when the summit discusses \u2018Food and Energy Security\u2019.
\nBritain\u2019s new Prime Minister Sunak made his intention clear before leaving London for the meeting.
\n\u201cThis G20 Summit will not be business as usual,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bali, Indonesia The annual G20 Summit opened here on Tuesday with world leaders set to discuss over the next two days challenges triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and more recently topped by Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed at the summit venue by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, ahead of the formal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-295418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n