G20 summit: The Big 4 who helped India get to Delhi Declaration

Clinching a New Delhi Declaration involved bringing together member nations who were deeply divided over the issue of the language surrounding the war.

A year’s work hinged on it. India’s diplomatic prowess was on the test — a joint statement by the leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies and most powerful nations, deeply divided over the Ukraine war.

More than 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings and 15 drafts went into bringing consensus on the geopolitical paras (Russia-Ukraine) that clinched the Delhi Declaration on September 9 with 100 percent consensus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant credited his team led by four officers for paving the way for the joint statement that involved getting member nations to agree over the language surrounding the war.

Kant took to X, formerly Twitter, to credit his team for their relentless work. Here are the four officers who led from the front in clinching the communiqué:

Additional Secretary (G20) & Sous Sherpa Abhay Thakur is a 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer who has served as India’s envoy to Mauritius and Nigeria. He was also the permanent representative of India to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

According to an Indian Express report, Thakur is a Russian speaker, a language he learnt during his training, which came in handy during G20 negotiations.

Also read: On final day of Summit, Russia says G20 declaration 'balanced'

Joint Secretary (G20-I), Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur spent nearly 13 years of his career serving key positions in the Chinese embassy. He was the chef de cabinet to the president of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly before he became a key negotiator for India's G20 presidency.

A career diplomat and an IFS officer of the 1998 batch, Kakanur speaks Chinese fluently, which is likely to have helped New Delhi convince Beijing facilitating a joint statement.

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Joint Secretary (G20-II), Ashish Kumar Sinha served as first secretary at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu. Sinha looked at key issues associated with the Business 20 and Startup 20 engagement groups during India's G20 presidency. He is passionate about climate issues, tennis and Indian classical music, his profile on X says.

Joint Secretary (G20-III), Eenam Gambhir worked as second secretary at the Indian embassy in Argentina in the early days of her career.

Gambhir was also a senior adviser on peace and security issues in the office of the president of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly. Fluent in Spanish, the diplomat has dealt with issues relating to India’s neighbourhood, especially Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran in different capacities while working in New Delhi.