India opted out of the joint communiqué arising from the Global Peace Summit on the war in Ukraine hosted by Switzerland. It is among 13 countries that attended the two-day summit but did not sign the final document.
India Opts Out Of Ukraine Declaration
Why In News
- India opted out of the joint communiqué arising from the Global Peace Summit on the war in Ukraine hosted by Switzerland. It is among 13 countries that attended the two-day summit but did not sign the final document.
- Saudi Arabia, India, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates were among countries participating at a summit on peace for Ukraine that did not sign a final communique.
- Switzerland, which hosted the summit, said over 90 countries took part in the talks, and the vast majority of them signed up to the communique, according to a list which the Swiss organizers posted at the close of proceedings.
- Brazil, which was listed as an “observer” on the list of attendees, also did not feature as a signatory.
About The Summit
- The two-day summit (15-16 June) organised by Switzerland witnessed the participation of 93 delegations including the host. The peace conference saw 57 heads of state or government participate, while 29 ministerial delegations attended and 6 envoys were present. Most of the attendees were from Europe and the western powers.
- US Vice President Kamala Harris, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were among the Western leaders who attended the summit.
- However, a number of countries including China, the world’s second-largest economy and a close partner of Russia, chose to give the summit a miss. Russia was not invited to the summit.
- From both the BRICS grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, UAE and Iran) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (Russia, Pakistan, China, India, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan), New Delhi was the only country to send a ministerial-level delegation.
- South Africa, the UAE sent envoys to the summit, while Brazil sent an observer. A day before the summi, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin announced his own four conditions for peace in the war, including the annexation of Ukrainian territories and for Kyiv to give aspirations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Ukraine swiftly rejected Putin’s conditions.
India’s Stand
- “In our view, only those options acceptable to both parties can lead to an abiding peace. In line with this approach, we have decided to avoid association with a joint communiqué or any other document emerging from the summit,” said Pavan Kapoor, secretary (west) and a former ambassador to Russia who served as India’s representative at the summit.
- Speaking at the summit, Kapoor added: “India shares the global concern over the situation in Ukraine and supports any collective desire to facilitate a peaceful resolution of the conflict…We continue to believe that such a peace requires bringing together all stakeholders and a sincere and practical engagement between the two parties to the conflict.”
