Stage set for 2 days of tough parleys

Differences over the Ukraine war, phasing out or phasing down of fossil fuels and debt restructuring are among the key challenges facing the leaders’ declaration at the Summit

- Rezaul H Laskar

NEW DELHI: With negotiations on a draft leaders' declaration for the G20 Summit going down to the wire on Friday because of differences over the Ukraine conflict and other issues, people familiar with the matter said expectations were growing that a final push by the leaders would be needed to break the impasse.

The sherpas, or personal envoys of the G20 leaders, were unable to agree on a compromise text to refer to Russia's invasion of Ukraine at a meeting held at a resort at Manesar near the Indian capital despite discussions being extended by a day, people from four G20 member states said on condition of anonymity.

There were also differences on other issues, such as phasing out or phasing down of fossil fuels and debt restructuring, but the people said these were expected to be ironed out by the time the two-day G20 Summit gets underway on Saturday.

"There are a few other issues but they aren't insurmountable.

A lot of ideas are being thrown around and these issues are likely to be sorted out. But things are still stuck on the issue of Ukraine," one of the people cited above said.