G20 Finance Summit ends without joint communique

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The G20 Finance Summit in Indonesia ended yesterday without a final joint communique, as intense divisions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prevailed among leaders of the world’s twenty richest countries, the Associated Press (AP) reports. Aside from the Russian invasion issue, the finance ministers in attendance at the summit did agree on the need to address global challenges such as decades-long high inflation and food insecurity.

Hosted by Indonesia on the island of Bali, the summit was intended to reconcile strong differences of opinion between world powers on the Russian invasion, to little avail, AP said. In a statement to reporters about the lack of a joint communique, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati explained that the summit had taken place “under a very challenging and difficult situation because of the geopolitical tensions.”

Certain issues could not be reconciled, Indrawati said, “because [G20 leaders] want to express their views related to the war.” While Russian officials blamed sanctions for record inflation and fuel price hikes, for example, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Russia is responsible for “the ongoing human and economic toll that the war is causing around the world.”

In regard to areas of agreement, Indrawati said these included the need for price stability, improved food security, pandemic preparedness, a global tax agreement, and cleaner energy, AP reports.

Central Bank Governor Perry Warjiyo said in a separate statement that Indonesia would publish a G-20 chair’s statement, which will include an outline of areas where leaders had failed to agree.

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