G20 Finance Ministers Meeting Ends Without Final Statement What cruel tactics did Russia use to capture Avdiivka?

The finance ministers of the leading industrialized and emerging countries (G20) could not agree on a joint final statement during their meeting in São Paulo due to disagreements over the war in Ukraine. The German news agency DPA learned this from negotiating circles on Thursday (local time). Instead, the presidency country, Brazil, published its own summary.

In this summary, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are only mentioned in a footnote. The ministers discussed the ongoing wars, conflicts and humanitarian crises, highlighting especially Ukraine and Gaza, the report said. Brazil, as the host of the G20 meeting, does not consider a meeting of finance ministers as the appropriate forum to clarify such geopolitical issues.

The Brazilians wanted to ignore the geopolitical crises and shift the debate to meetings of foreign ministers and heads of state and government. They wanted to focus the finance ministers’ discussions purely on economic policy issues.

Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter advocated a focus on financial stability during the meeting, according to a statement from the Federal Ministry of Finance on Thursday. “It is critical to learn from the banking sector turmoil in 2023,” Keller-Sutter said. The vice president of the Swiss National Bank, Martin Schlegel, accompanied them to São Paulo. Switzerland took part in the meeting at the invitation of Brazil.

“No common language”

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner stressed that despite intensive efforts from all sides, it was not possible to reach an agreement. A joint statement failed because “we cannot agree on a common language for assessing the impact of the war in Ukraine on the global economy.”

There was also an attempt to equate the Russian attack on Ukraine with the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Germany could not support that. The FDP leader had already emphasized during the meeting that Germany could not agree to a final statement that did not mention the geopolitical conflicts.

After a G20 meeting, the common assessments and objectives are usually recorded in a communiqué. Since the war in Ukraine, talks have repeatedly stalled because Russia is also a member of the group. Even at their meeting in India last year, finance ministers could not agree on a common wording. (saw/sda/dpa)