New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) As the Ukraine conflict got “watered down” in diplomatic jargon in the Delhi Declaration adopted at the G20 summit, French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday said that the grouping was not a forum for political discussions.
He, however, added that a vast majority of G20 countries condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking after meeting prime minister Narendra Modi at a luncheon meeting, Macron noted that the G20 should not get stuck on these issues, while referring to the Ukraine conflict.
The G20 summit was committed to just and lasting peace in Ukraine, he added.
The summit talked about upholding principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, Macron said.
“The G20 summit has sent across a message of unity,” he noted.
“The core business of this forum is economy and coordination on the global affairs. The core business is not stability, security and peace. We should not stop everything if we disagree on one or two topics. (Russia’s) President (Vladimir) Putin is not here because he is sanctioned by a lot of us and for good reasons. I think what’s happening is very grave and concerning for everybody,” Macron said.
Praising India’s presidency, Macron said that considering the current fragmented environment, India has done well as G20 President.
“I think we (India-France) have a strong bilateral partnership. We had a very strong defence partnership and we strengthened this partnership, especially during the past two years. The visit of your PM during our Bastille Day, was a very critical moment. French people were very proud and they felt the friendship and respect for your country. We will follow up on defence, we will develop and deploy on all the different parts of our defence roadmap, additional contracts and procurements in days to come,” he said.
On the forthcoming Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, which are scheduled to held next month, Macron said: “Next the IMF, we expect some greater commitments by the emerging countries when it comes to restructuring the debt of African countries. We stand ready to do more. And we said it today. So it is the very same agenda, greater financing, mobilisation around the world. France upgraded its commitments and we reached 0.5 per cent of our GDP allocated to development projects. And we also want the same to happen at the international level.
“And this is the reason why we’re committed to the replenishment of IFAD – The International Fund for Agricultural Development. And the meeting will be taking place in December.”
“A very productive lunch meeting with President @EmmanuelMacron. We discussed a series of topics and look forward to ensuring India-France relations scale new heights of progress,” Modi posted on X after meeting Macron.