G20 declaration - India led the way and all emerging markets joined: Kant

The US, UK, France, Canada, Germany, Japan and Italy are members of the G7.

The former NITI Aayog CEO said that the original paragraph that was being drafted with regards to the Russia-Ukraine War was more of a "very long statement, which was very one-sided". He said the G20 is not a forum for security, it is a forum for growth and progress, which is India thought it was best to fall back on the UN resolution. "We worked through two difficult nights to finally convince the G7 that we should go back to the UN Resolution, pick up components of that and really spell out the voting pattern as given out in the UN resolution and then conclude it with what PM Modi had said regarding this being the age of diplomacy and dialogue and not an era of war," he said.

The final text also mentions that "there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. Recognizing that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy."

Kant also spoke about the three key issues -- food, coal and fertiliser -- that were discussed at length at the Summit as it was felt that the food and fertiliser supply from both Russia and Ukraine needed to be unlocked. He said the extension to initiatives taken by Ukraine and Russia to boost food supplies are the need of the hour.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the Summit and the country  was represented by its foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. However, Lavrov was not  present on the last day when the final declaration was put out.

Post the final declaration, Indonesia handed over the G20 Presidency to India by passing the honourary gavel. India will hold the high profile gathering next year. In the build up, there will be 200 meetings across 32 sectors culminating in the summit on September 9 and 10, 2023.