(Bloomberg) — Group of 20 finance chiefs agreed on a communique that didn’t mention the Israel-Hamas war, the latest sign of the forum’s struggle to address conflicts seen as threats to the global economy.
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The statement provided late on Thursday by the G-20 secretariat, which is helmed this year by India, comes on the eve of the end of an official meeting this week in Morocco.
It repeats language from a leaders’ summit in September crafted to address the war in Ukraine and includes generic language noting “with deep concern the immense human suffering and the adverse impact of wars and conflicts around the world.”
For more on the Israel-Hamas war, click here.
The G-20, formed in the late 1990s and representing more than 80% of the global economy, bills itself as the “the premier forum for international economic cooperation” and not a venue to resolve geopolitical or security issues.
After failing multiple times after Russia’s invasion to reach a consensus, the group found various compromises to express the varied policies toward the war across its membership, from the US to Russia and China, as well as India and Brazil who have tried not to pick sides.
The omission of any mention of the six-day-old conflict, after the attack on Israel by Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US and the European Union, contrasts with the focus on the war’s potential risk to the global economy expressed at the related International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this week, held alongside the gathering of G-20 finance ministers and central bankers.
Read more: Talk of War Dominates Annual Gathering of Global Finance Chiefs
“Geopolitical risks are the most significant risk for the world economy now,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters before discussing the matter with Group of Seven counterparts. “Geopolitical risk has become the most significant risk for growth, for development — and for common prosperity.”
The G-7 ministers, representing the world’s richest countries, issued a statement condemning Hamas and expressing support for Israel.
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said during a briefing at the end of the G20 meeting on Friday that “there weren’t many discussions” about the Israel-Hamas fighting, but added that conflict in the region, oil and supply chain fragmentation were among worries of the members.
–With assistance from Abeer Abu Omar.
(Updates with comment from Sitharaman in final paragraph.)
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