New Delhi, (Asian independent) External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has said that instead of focusing on leaders who have decided to skip the forthcoming G20 summit, the need is to focus on positions taken by nations on important issues.
Speaking at the ‘Doordarshan Dialogue, G20: The India Way’ on Monday, he said that ultimately countries are represented by whoever they have chosen to represent them, so the levels of representations don’t become the final determinant of the position of a country.
He said this in response to a question on Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin skipping the G20 summit, which is scheduled to be held between September 9 and 10.
Jaishankar further said that every G20 member in the summit will make a contribution to global politics.
“So I would say rather than focus necessarily on which country chooses to come at what level, the real issue is what position they take when they come. That’s really what it is, we will remember about this G20 for the outcomes it produced,” he added.
On Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry had announced that Jinping will not be attending the summit and in his place premier Li Qiang will attend the multilateral event.
Earlier last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed his inability to attend the G20 summit.
