Russia cautions G20 not to politicise forum

Russia, which will be represented by a delegation led by its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the G20 Summit in Bali next week, has said that it is determined to strengthen the status of the leading multilateral economic forum and also prevent any attempts to “artificially politicize” the activities of the association for the sake of “narrowly selfish interests”.

While top leaders of the world, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in ‌Indonesia for the summit to be held on November 15-16, Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to skip the event.

Lavrov will take part in plenary sessions and also hold a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit.

“We presume that in the current conditions, the emphasis should be placed on using diplomatic tools in order to revive the culture of respectful dialogue in the G20 and create the prerequisites for its return to productive work in the future,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

She mentioned that Russia intends to contribute in every possible way, relying on the support of “like-minded partners in the BRICS” and other countries with emerging markets.

“Unfortunately, the destructive trends observed today, which significantly reduce the productive potential of the G20, are taking place against the backdrop of an extremely difficult situation in the global economy. In fact, we are talking about the formation of unprecedented challenges in this area, affecting the stability of commodity markets, supply chains and the financial system,” said Zakharova.

“Most of them are the result of gross economic miscalculations, unfair competition and open confrontation between the US and the EU in the international arena,” she added.

Russia stated that it will confirm its readiness to remain a reliable supplier of food products and energy resources to foreign markets on a commercial and humanitarian basis, rejecting, however, any attempts at price and other external pressure.

“In turn, we are determined to seek to strengthen the status of the G20 as the leading multilateral economic forum, to prevent any attempts to artificially politicize the activities of this association for the sake of narrowly selfish interests. We welcome the constructive spirit of the current Indonesian chairmanship to promote a unifying agenda,” added Zakharova.

Moscow said that it hopes that the “positive vector” declared by Jakarta will be perceived by all delegations in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation and will allow the G20 to make a significant contribution to the establishment of a multipolar world and the democratization of international economic relations.

It also wants particular attention to be paid to the formation of convincing outcomes of the Bali summit concerning the response to threats in the field of food and energy security.

“It is planned to announce a number of specific initiatives in this regard, including building up gas cooperation with Turkey, organizing the supply of large consignments of grain and fertilizers. We emphasise the importance of demonopolizing the global economic architecture and building logistics routes, technological clusters and payment systems independent of political turbulence,” remarked the Russian MFA spokesperson.

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