Overcoming their differences over Ukraine and dealing with climate change and proving that they are ready to take concrete action in favor of developing countries: these are the challenges facing the G20 leaders who are meeting from today in New Delhi.

India, which chairs this year’s group of major Western and emerging economies, has expressed a desire to be the voice that expresses “the needs of the countries of the South.”

The G20 should at least send a message to Africa by welcoming the African Union as a permanent member. The initiative of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been supported by many member countries, including the US and the EU.

Although a veto by a G20 member country is always a possibility, a senior official in India’s foreign ministry, Vinay Kwatra, said he expected a decision to be made this morning at the summit, to which the president of the Comoros Islands has been invited. Azali Assoumani, whose country currently holds the presidency of the African Union.

However, the G20 countries are at risk of not reaching an agreement on geopolitical issues or tackling climate change. Issues that have serious consequences for developing countries, which are most affected by extreme weather events linked to climate change but also by food insecurity caused by the war in Ukraine.

The absence of concrete climate commitments will be a “potentially catastrophic” failure for G20 countries, which account for 85% of global GDP and account for 80% of greenhouse gases, Amnesty International warned on Thursday.

“Dysfunctional” family

Disagreements within the G20 over countries’ stances on Russia, phasing out fossil fuels and debt restructuring for developing nations make it difficult to issue a joint final statement on Sunday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that growing disagreements could lead to conflict.

“Although we are indeed a global family, today we look like a rather dysfunctional family,” he told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday. “Differences grow, tensions explode and trust erodes — which, when put together, leaves the specter of fragmentation and, ultimately, confrontation,” he said.

In the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the American Joe Biden is expected to be in the spotlight.

He will discuss “a range of joint efforts to address global problems,” notably climate change, and to “alleviate the economic and social impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine,” which is affecting the poorest countries, Jack said. Sullivan White House National Security Adviser.

Biden will also propose a Western alternative to China’s massive investment plans in developing countries, while calling for increased financing capabilities from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

G20: Agreement signed on a grand plan to connect India, the Middle East and Europe

An agreement is to be signed at this weekend’s G20 in New Delhi on a major maritime and rail project that will run through the Middle East and connect India to Europe, a US official said today.

Briefing reporters on expectations from the G20 summit, US Deputy National Security Adviser John Finner referred to the “agreement in principle between the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the EU and other partners G20 to consider a sea and rail transport plan that will allow trade, energy and data to flow from here in India, through the Middle East and to Europe.”

The plan “has enormous potential, but I don’t know exactly how long it will take” for its implementation, Finner added, clarifying that “it is the result of months of prudent diplomacy.”

This announcement comes as US President Joe Biden works to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco have already established diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

Details of the deal are expected to be announced later today. However, according to the news website Axios, the plan calls for connecting the Arab countries by rail — which could be extended to Israel if it normalizes relations with Saudi Arabia — and then through Israeli ports to extend of the connection to Europe, but also a maritime connection to India.