Many leaders spoke on Israel-Hamas war at virtual G20 meeting: Jaishankar

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The ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza was discussed in great detail at the virtual G20 summit hosted by India on Wednesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.

Addressing a media briefing after the Virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit, Jaishankar said major geopolitical developments in the past two and a half months also necessitated the summit. "The Middle East-West Asia-Gaza crisis came up in greater detail. To some extent, the Ukraine crisis and its consequences also came up," he explained.

He said most leaders also agreed, in general, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that a two-state solution remained necessary to solve the Israel-Palestine issue. "Many countries spoke about the two-state solution explicitly. I won't say that everybody did. I can't say there was a consensus on the two-state solution," he said.

Instead, countries currently remain focused not only on containing any spillover of the conflict but also on ensuring that it doesn't escalate further.

All 21 members of the G20, including the African Union which was accepted into the bloc back in September, nine guest countries and 11 international organizations participated in the meeting, Jaishankar said. The outcomes of the recently held second Voice of the Global South Summit also fed into Wednesday's summit, he added.

United States President Joe Biden and Chinese Premier Li Qiang skipped the event, while Russian President Vladimir Putin joined the event.

Development Banks & Crypto

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said every one of the five main agenda points has been reiterated and welcomed. This includes Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) reforms, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), Roadmap for Crypto Assets, Climate Finance, and Financing of Cities of tomorrow. "In all of these areas, there has been overwhelming appreciation and keenness to take them forward by the next G20 host, Brazil.

"Several MDBs are already exploring options of collaborating with each other on innovative finance. This includes the African Development and the Inter-American Development Bank who are now collaborating on developing hybrid capital instruments," Sitharaman said.

She said the report on this by the international expert group under India's presidency has been welcomed. "Many aspects of this report are already set on course. The boards are taking it up, and particularly the World Bank," she said.

The roadmap on crypto assets is also being actively taken up by countries, she said. India will actively work with Brazil on this, based on the regular updates that are to be provided by international bodies such as the Financial Stability Board, she said.

India has signed Memoranda of Understanding with seven nations to share experiences and DPI technologies, Sitharaman said.