G20 leaders to discuss implementation of New Delhi declaration at virtual meet on Nov 22

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced at the New Delhi Leaders' Summit in early September that a virtual Leaders' Summit would be held before the end of India's G20 Presidency

The virtual G20 Leaders' Summit, which will be held on November 22, will see top global leaders discuss the implementation of the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration, among other issues.

The leaders could also discuss other issues, although senior Indian bureaucrats refused to "pre-judge" their deliberations.

"Since our successful hosting of the G20 Leaders' Summit on September 9-10 and the unanimous adoption of the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration, the world has actually witnessed a succession of events and several new challenges have emerged," Amitabh Kant, India's G20 Sherpa, told reporters on November 21.

The virtual summit will begin at 5:30PM on November 22 and is expected to last for a maximum of three hours. The Indian G20 Presidency is expected to hold a briefing afterwards.

"While development will be the core agenda and we will focus on the development issue, the leaders may discuss many other issues and the virtual summit will provide an opportunity not only to discuss the implementation of the Leaders’ Declaration but also for leaders to share views and enhance cooperation on critical challenges that we confront and address gaps in global governance, reaffirm our existing commitments towards the Sustainable Development Goals, and move towards a reinvigorated multilateral system that is better positioned to positively impact people’s lives," Kant added.

When asked if the Israel-Hamas conflict will be discussed, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said he "didn't want to prejudge what issues would be raised by the leaders".

The conflict between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, just under a month after the G20 Leaders' Summit saw an unexpectedly quick adoption of a joint statement on the first day of the summit itself on September 9.

India's G20 Presidency, which ends at the end of this month, has been dominated by talks on the Russia-Ukraine war. This caused ministerial level meetings ending without a communique, or official statements, in the lead up to the New Delhi Leaders' Summit as officials could not come to an agreement on the language to describe the nature of the conflict.

The Leaders' Summit was also not attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. When asked whether the two leaders would take part in the Virtual Summit, Foreign Secretary Kwatra said he was expecting "a large majority of G20 leaders" to be present at the Virtual Summit.

"Suffice to say at this stage that we expect a large majority of leaders to participate in the discussions tomorrow - as has been the case even in the Summit in September this year... We don't expect tomorrow's summit to be any different insofar as that is concerned," Kwatra said.

According to reports, Russian state TV presenter Pavel Zarubin said on his Telegram channel on November 19 that Putin will set out Russia's view of what it sees as the "deeply unstable world situation" at the virtual summit.

Meanwhile, China has said that Premier Li Qiang, and not President Jinping, will attend the virtual summit.