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Post by Admin on Sept 8, 2023 15:35:39 GMT
US President Joe Biden has arrived in New Delhi for the G20 summit which begins on September 9.
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Post by Admin on Sept 8, 2023 16:59:59 GMT
President Biden and the leaders of India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hope to announce a major joint infrastructure deal on Saturday that will connect Gulf and Arab countries via a network of railways, two sources with direct knowledge of the plan told Axios. It will also connect to India through shipping lanes from ports in the region,
Why it matters: The project is one of the key initiatives the White House is pushing in the Middle East as China's influence in the region grows. The Middle East is a key part of China's Belt and Road vision.
The joint railway project is expected to be one of the key deliverables Biden wants to present during the G20 Summit in New Dehli this weekend. It comes as the Biden administration seeks to complete its diplomatic push for a mega-deal with Saudi Arabia that could include a normalization agreement between the kingdom and Israel before the 2024 campaign consumes Biden's agenda. What they are saying: The White House declined to comment. It said in an earlier statement previewing Biden's trip that the president will participate on Saturday in a "Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment event."
A U.S. official involved in the talks said the work on the announcement is still ongoing and it is not final yet. The Indian and Saudi embassies in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Emirati officials declined to comment. If the four countries finalize the negotiations in the next two days, their leaders will sign a memorandum of understanding outlining the parameters of the project. How it works: The project is expected to connect Arab countries in the Levant and the Gulf via a network of railways that will also connect to India through seaports in the Gulf, the sources said.
If Saudi Arabia and Israel normalize relations in the future, Israel could also be part of the railway project and broaden its reach to Europe via Israeli seaports, according to the sources. Between the lines: An announcement of the project will likely increase the chances of a possible brief bilateral meeting between Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20.
Flashback: Axios first reported talks for the project were underway in May, when White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with his Saudi, Emirati and Indian counterparts.
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Post by Admin on Sept 8, 2023 19:52:42 GMT
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is in New Delhi for the G20 summit of world leaders, and has told reporters that "progress" had been made on a long-awaited post-Brexit trade deal with India.
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Post by Admin on Sept 9, 2023 18:53:42 GMT
New Delhi CNN — Leaders gathered here for the annual Group of 20 summit managed to agree on a joint statement laying out shared views on climate change and economic development but showed the fractures within the group by stopping short of explicitly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Diplomats had been working furiously to draft a final joint statement in the lead-up to the summit but hit snags on language to describe the Ukraine war. The eventual compromise statement amounted to a coup for the summit’s host, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but still reflected a position far softer those the United States and its Western allies have adopted individually. US President Joe Biden was hoping to convince the world’s largest economies to rally behind Ukraine during his two-night stay in India for the summit. He also pressed his case for American investment in the developing world. On Saturday, as the summit was still underway, the leaders agreed to the joint declaration acknowledging the situation in Ukraine while not papering over the group’s major divides. “All states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition,” the declaration read, without explicitly singling out Russia for its invasion. The document also stated opposition to the use of nuclear weapons and highlighted the economic effects of the war. In a reflection of the deep fractures among the G20 nations, the statement acknowledged “there were different views and assessments of the situation.” The declaration earned the praise of the United States. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan called the statement a “significant milestone for India’s chairmanship and a vote of confidence that the G20 can come together to address a pressing range of issues.” “The G20 statement includes a set of consequential paragraphs on the war in Ukraine. And from our perspective, it does a very good job of standing up for the principle that states cannot use force to seek territorial acquisition,” Sullivan said. Still, the language differed from last year’s G20 declaration, which stated “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine.” Russia, as a member of the G20, would have to agree on any consensus statement on Ukraine. Russia and China had resisted stronger language in a final statement, making any kind of agreement difficult. No G20 summit has concluded without a joint declaration of some type.
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Post by Admin on Sept 10, 2023 2:03:20 GMT
The G20 declaration on the Ukraine war was reached on the first day of the summit, but while Rishi Sunak has praised the "very strong language," Ukraine disagreed, calling the wording of the agreement "nothing to be proud of". Leaders of 20 nations reached a consensus declaration at the summit in Delhi on Saturday, calling on all states to refrain from the use of force to seize territory. Read more here: news.sky.com/topic/g20-6754
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