New Delhi: An hour before the start of the G20 Summit here on September 9, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Sherpa Amitabh Kant the status of the leaders’ declaration and when told there were some issues, he asserted he just wanted to see the result – a “consensus” – very soon.
Kant immediately went into a huddle with fellow Sherpas and managed to secure the final agreement.
These behind-the-scene happenings are mentioned in Kant’s new book “How India Scaled Mt G20: The Inside Story of the G20 Presidency”.
India had pulled off a big diplomatic win after the G20 summit adopted a consensus declaration overcoming major differences on the Russia-Ukraine war.
Modi announced a consensus on the 37-page declaration and its subsequent adoption at the start of the second session on the opening day of the two-day summit of the grouping of major developed and developing countries.
Kant says the journey from the principles to the final draft of the NDLD (New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Declaration) was, however, far from smooth.
“The text continued to face constant revisions and objections after 300 hours of negotiations over 250 bilateral meetings. The weight and seriousness of the negotiations were felt by all participants, but the pursuit of a mutually agreeable outcome still seemed far from reach,” he writes in the book, published by Rupa.
“PM Modi was acutely aware of the stakes involved. He had asked me to send him urgent situation reports every two hours, a task that demanded immense multitasking and quick analysis. This constant communication kept PM Modi informed, but also spurred us into action, helping us map out the negotiations and take stock of our progress,” he adds.
According to Kant, Russia insisted on the inclusion of the word ‘sanction’ and this led to extensive discussions with Alexander Pankin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, lasting for two-and-a-half hours, to persuade them to reconsider.
“The stakes were high, as refusal to compromise would have left Russia isolated with a 19-1 vote against it. We finally had to tell Russia that this was not feasible and would not be accepted by other countries. We made it abundantly clear to Russia that its insistence on this matter put significant pressure on India and made it impossible for us to move forward,” he recalls.
Kant says that throughout the negotiations, the G7 countries were pressuring India to invite Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy but India’s stance was to keep the guest list exclusive to the G20 leaders.
“On Dr Jaishankar’s advice, I had to inform the Russian negotiator that if they didn’t agree, the first speaker following PM Modi’s speech would be Zelenskyy. This bold and assertive negotiation tactic ultimately worked, and Russia relented,” he says.
But there was another hurdle, Kant says. The head of the Chinese team pointed out a bilateral challenge with the US, stemming from a green portion of the G20 declaration that stated that the 2026 G20 Summit would be hosted in the US.
The Chinese Sherpa explained that the US would not grant them visas, not even for their governor in Hong Kong. They would not agree to the geopolitical paras until they received a written guarantee that they would be issued visas, the book says.
Kant then recalls that at about 8 in the morning of September 9, Modi visited the Bharat Mandapam for an inspection before the start of the leaders’ meeting.
“I was to brief him on our progress so far. When he enquired about the Leaders’ Declaration, I outlined the conflict between the US and China and informed him that the NDLD was still not finalized.
“He paused for a moment, wondering as to why bilateral issues were being raised in a multilateral meeting, before replying that he did not want to get into the procedures or the process, but wanted to see the result – a consensus – very soon. He expected the Sherpa to navigate and secure the final agreement,” the book says.
The leaders’ meeting commenced at 9 a.m. and Kant had to undertake parallel negotiations in a dedicated session from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., in the room adjacent to the Leaders’ Hall in the Bharat Mandapam.
“I, along with (US Sherpa Mike) Pyle and Li (Kexin, head of the Chinese team), hammered out the details of the letter. We opted to use the term ‘ensure’ instead of ‘guarantee’. By noon, we had successfully resolved this bilateral matter, even though technically it was beyond the scope of India’s role as G20 Chair.
“With China’s consent, and both of America’s conditions met, Russia, the US, China, the G7, and all countries were finally on board,” Kant writes.
He says a consensus was thus reached on the very first day of the Leaders’ Summit, unlike at the 2022 Bali Summit, where negotiations on the declaration text dragged on until the final hours.
He called this “no small feat”.
And so, after lunch on September 9, Modi made the official announcement of the declaration.
Kant says his book tells the story of how a nation, once seen as a developing power, rose to lead the world stage—offering solutions, forging alliances, and building a lasting legacy that reflects the aspirations of both developing and developed worlds.
The book has a foreword by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
