India was trying to build a consensus on Ukraine this evening as global leaders descended on the national capital for the G20 Summit to be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the next two days.

It was quite clear that there were sharp divisions within the G20 grouping over mentioning the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the ‘New Delhi Declaration’ to be adopted by the summit leaders at the conclusion of the high-profile meet on Sunday.

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While Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have decided to skip the summit, other top leaders have started arriving in New Delhi amidst unprecedented security arrangements.

The theme of this year’s summit is “One Earth, One Family, One Future.” India, as the host country, has chosen this theme to reflect its commitment to sustainable development and global cooperation.

Streets in the national capital wore a deserted look today ahead of the summit with businesses, offices and schools closed as part of security measures.

Addressing a pre-summit press conference at the International Media Centre here, Amitabh Kant, India’s ‘Sherpa’ for the summit said the ”New Delhi Declaration” was almost ready but refused to dwell more on it. He skirted questions on whether Russia and China were coming in the way of a consensus on the declaration.

He said Prime Minister Modi’s vision that India’s G20 presidency should be inclusive, ambitious, decisive and action-oriented had been fully realised by this country over the last one year.

G20 Chief Coordinator Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that India’s presidency of the grouping would bring economic benefits to the country as the G20 meetings and activities included extensive participation of people through “Jan Bhagidari” from across the nation.

“We would have received a total of 100,000 visitors for our G20 presidency from over 125 nationalities and for many of them this has been a discovery of a new India. The G20 presidency will bring economic benefits to our country and to our citizens,” he said.

“The efforts have been of course to take the G20 down to the grassroots level through a process we call ‘Jan Bhagidari’ which is the people’s participation movement. Whether it is the G20 university connect, G20 model school quiz, or painting competitions, the G20 has been popularised and taken to the grassroots level in our country,” Shringla said.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said the summit would be attended by 41 heads of state or government and international organisations. The summit, he said, would see the largest-ever participation of Global South.

“During the course of our presidency, we have hosted over 220 G20 meetings in 60 different cities across the length and breadth of our country. In keeping with the PM’s vision of a pan-Indian G20, we have hosted at least one G20 meeting in every state and UT of India. To my mind, that is the finest example of cooperative federalism that we can seek,” Shringla added.

Leaders of the G20 Summit will be treated to first-of-its-kind instrumental music performances showcasing the cultural depth of Bharat on the occasion to be hosted by President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday.

“At the time of the dinner that will be hosted tomorrow by our President, there will be a musical or song that will play in the background. This will represent musicians from all parts of our country. But it will also include musical traditions from every nature – whether it is Hindustani, Carnatic, Folk, or Bhajans, every aspect of music will be covered by these 77 musicians who will also include young students, people who have some disabilities, people who are from different walks of life across our country, They will also be displaying very rare musical instruments,” Kant added.

The G20 comprises 19 countries– Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, the United States– and the European Union.