Amid sharp differences between the Western world and Russia over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, India will host the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM) in physical format on Thursday in New Delhi. The meeting will begin informally with a gala dinner to be hosted by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for the visiting foreign ministers.

Representatives of 40 countries, including non-G20 members invited by India, and multilateral organisations will attend the key meeting being held under India’s G20 presidency.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the foreign ministers of the member countries of G20. The meeting is taking place days after a gathering of finance ministers and the Central Bank Governors of the G20 member countries in Bengaluru failed to come out with a joint communique due to differences in the formulation on Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine.

The foreign ministers are also likely to discuss ways to deal with falling economic growth, increasing inflation, lower demands for goods and services as well as increasing prices of food, fuel and fertilisers.

Briefing reporters here this afternoon, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra refused to speculate on whether the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting would be able to come out with a joint communique. “It would not be correct to prejudge the outcome of the meeting,” he said.

The venue of the G20 FMM is the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Center. Delegates from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK and the US are expected to participate in the meeting.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict would be an important point of discussion given the developing situation of Russia-Ukraine, Kwatra said, adding the ”foreign ministers will be focusing on the Russia-Ukraine situation… it’ll be important to what they come out with, what understanding is developed.”

He further added, “Issues of the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the world including economic impact and impact on development will also be focused upon in the meeting.”

The ministers would also deliberate on multilateralism, food and energy security, development cooperation, and counter-terrorism, he added. ”What we expect from tomorrow’s foreign ministers’ meeting is a very clear, strong and all-encompassing message on the problem of terrorism and the need for G20 countries to fight against it together. The larger challenge of counter-terrorism and narco-terrorism will be in focus,” Kwatra said.

Jaishankar will be chairing two sessions at the 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, counter-terrorism and narcotics, global skill mapping and global talent pools.