G20 Foreign Ministers meet to kick off with gala dinner on Wednesday: All you need to know

The G20 Foreign Ministers meeting (FMM) is scheduled to take place in physical format from March 1-2, 2023 in New Delhi under India's G20 Presidency. In a special briefing by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on the event, he said: "It is one of the largest gatherings of foreign ministers hosted by any G20 Presidency."

The venue of G20 FMM is Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Center. Overall 40 delegations - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, India as host, Indonesia both as immediate past president and ASEAN chair, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, US (all G20 member countries), are expected to participate in the meeting.

Among the nine guest countries participating at the level of FMs are Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the UAE. "Besides the participation of these countries which I said comprising of over 40 delegations, this would also include 13 international organisations. Surely, this is one of the largest gatherings of the FMs hosted by any G20 Presidency that we would privilege to host," said Kwatra.

The mega event will kick off on Wednesday night with a gala dinner.

"It will be under the chairmanship of our External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar. This would be the second ministerial meeting being held under our Presidency. The first ministerial meeting has just concluded in Bengaluru, which was of the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' meeting," said Kwatra.

During the Foreign Ministers' meeting on Thursday, the EAM will be chairing two sessions of the foreign ministries meeting. "The first session will focus on multilateralism, and issues related to food and energy. The second session will focus on four or five key issues including new and emerging threats includes counter-terrorism and narcotics, global skill mapping, focus on global talent pools," said the foreign secretary.

The theme of India's G20 Presidency is "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" or "One Earth. One Family. One Future".

Jaishankar greets various top diplomats

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar kicked off Wednesday morning by holding talks with his United Kingdom counterpart James Cleverly. Later, he went on to welcome Dhoihir Dhoulkamal, finance minister of Comoros and chair of African Union.

Jaishankar also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In addition, he held talks with Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. Josep Borrell Fontelles, vice president of the European Union, also held intesive talks with the EAM. Geoffrey Onyeama, the Nigerian foreign minister, held an audience with Jaishankar.

Jaishankar met with Brazil Foreign Minsister Mauro Vieira on Tuesday evening. On Friday, he met Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, a first time meeting between the two since the devastating Turkey earthquake and India's Operation Dost to the quake-hit nation. 

Jaishankar also met Foreign Minister of Mauritius Alan Ganoo on the sidelines on Tuesday. He held meetings with Lars Løkke Rasmussen, foreign minister of Denmark on Tuesday monrning as well as Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský.

Japan FM not to attend

Kwatra also spoke about Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi who will not attend the meeting. "We understand that the Japanese FM is not able to come because of his domestic compulsions but we are looking forward to a very active participation, active support in consultation with the Japanese delegation that is coming," said Kwatra.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kenji Yamada is scheduled to visit New Delhi, India, to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, read Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release. "At this meeting, we will take our position and efforts as Japan, the G7 presidency, on important issues in the current international situation, such as multilateralism, food and energy security, and development cooperation, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues," said Kenji.

The development comes after Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi skipped a meeting due to a scheduling conflict with a Diet (Japanese parliament) session.

(with ANI inputs)