Group of 20 foreign ministers are meeting in New Delhi this week, where the war in Ukraine and US-China tensions are expected to dominate, with India hoping that issues such as climate change and third world debt also will not go unnoticed, Reuters reports.
The meeting of G20 foreign ministers on March 1-2 comes days after the group's leaders met in Bengaluru, where they argued over condemning Russia for the war, failed to reach consensus on a joint statement and instead settled on an outcome document.
The outcome was similar to the G20 summit in Bali last November, when host Indonesia also released a final declaration acknowledging the differences, the paper said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley will reportedly attend the meeting in New Delhi, while China is expected to send its foreign minister, Qin Gang. A total of 40 countries, including non-G20 members invited by India, and multilateral organizations will participate.
A meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the "four" countries - the USA, India, Australia and Japan - is also planned on the fields.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government wants to focus this week's meeting on issues such as climate change and the debt of developing countries, a spokesman for India's foreign ministry said.
India does not want Ukraine to dominate the event, but it will be high on the agenda, the official said.
"New Delhi intends to continue to act as the voice of the Global South and raise issues in the region," the official added.
Ramin Tolui, US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, said Blinken will highlight US efforts to address food and energy security issues affecting developing countries.
The US secretary of state will also "highlight the damage caused by Russia's aggressive war" and urge other countries to redouble their calls for Russia to end the war, Tolui told reporters before Blinken's trip to the meeting.
During the meeting, the foreign ministers will also watch how tensions between Washington and Beijing develop, in particular over the war in Ukraine.
China, together with Russia, refused to sign the final statement of financial leaders in Bengaluru.
New Delhi tried to maintain a delicate neutral line regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Although Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that now is not the time for war, India has refused to blame Moscow for the conflict, seeking a diplomatic solution and dramatically increasing purchases of Russian oil, the newspaper said.
Differences over the conflict will be revisited at this week's meeting, said Anil Wadhwa, a former Indian diplomat and senior fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi.
"It is unlikely that the G20 foreign ministers will be able to agree on uniform formulations that offer ways and mechanisms to resolve the situation in Ukraine," he said.