Prime Minister English Rishi Sunak expressed his appreciation for the leadership of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) who successfully held the Summit G20 in Nusa Dua, Bali with success.
In his press conference after the close of the G20 summit, Sunak said that Jokowi managed to hold a meeting with satisfactory results at a time when the global situation was full of challenges, one of which was the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I want to thank Indonesian President Jokowi for chairing the G20 meeting in today’s difficult situation,” Sunak told reporters in Nusa Dua on Wednesday (11/16).
Sunak appreciated that the current G20 summit was able to produce a joint statement, one of which contained the condemnation of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
According to him, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine took place, most of the countries of the world have been affected, from the energy crisis to the threat to the food supply which has caused price increases and inflation everywhere.
“All of this was exacerbated by the actions of a man who didn’t want to be at this summit, Vladimir Putin,” Sunak said.
“There is not a single person in the world who has not felt the effects of Putin’s invasion which has damaged global food markets and threatened Ukraine’s grain supply.”
However, Sunak said that all the leaders of the G20 countries, including representatives of Russia, have managed to adopt the G20 Bali Leaders Declaration.
In the third point of the statement, the G20 said they had reaffirmed the position of their respective countries as stated in previous forums.
“We reaffirm our country’s position expressed in other fora, including the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly, which in resolution No. ES-11/1 of 2 March 200, adopted by a majority (141 agreed, 5 rejected, 25 abstained and 12 absent) made a strong statement regarding the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demanded their complete and unconditional withdrawal from Ukrainian territory”, the third point reads.
By voting on the UN resolution mentioned in the statement, 5 countries refused to criticize and urged Russia to leave Ukraine.
One of the five countries is Russia. In addition, 25 countries also abstained, including 2 members of the G20, namely China and India.
With this statement, the G20 merely stated that the member countries have reaffirmed their position. Therefore, Russia refused to criticize, while China and India also did not want to interfere.
The G20 nations also said that most members “strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it has caused enormous human suffering and exacerbated existing vulnerabilities in the global economy”.
“This year we have seen the war in Ukraine have an even worse impact on the global economy […] hinder growth, increase inflation, disrupt supply chains, increase energy and food insecurity at the risk of financial stability,” the statement reads.
(fby/rds)
