Invitations to the upcoming G20 summit have been sent to: MEA

India said on Thursday that it has extended invitations to all G20 member states leaders, invited countries and heads of international organizations for the group’s upcoming annual summit to be held in September.

At the same time, it is uncertain whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the summit.

There has been speculation that Putin will attend the G20 summit in Delhi after South Africa said the Russian president would not travel to the country to attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg next month.

In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin accusing him of war crimes in Ukraine. South Africa is a signatory to the ICC.

In a statement, South Africa said the agreement on Putin not attending the summit was reached as part of a mutual understanding and followed a series of consultations.

Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would participate in the summit via video conferencing and that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be there.

At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagshi did not directly respond to a question on whether Putin would attend the G20 summit.

„At this point, I can reiterate what we said earlier that invitations have gone out to all G20 members, invited countries and international organizations,” he said.

„It is a physical summit and we hope that all the invitees will be able to participate in the summit in person. There are confirmations, I understand. But again there is no specific answer for any particular leader,” he said.

„I don’t think it’s fair to look at it that way, but yes, we look forward to welcoming the leaders here for our G20 New Delhi leaders’ summit in September,” Bagchi added.

India is the current chair of the G20 organization.

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies.

Members represent 85 percent of global GDP, more than 75 percent of global trade and two-thirds of the world’s population.

The group includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, United States and the European Union (EU).