We helped but G20 success due to India, no view on Canada’s allegation: Brazil FM

New York: Brazil’s foreign minister Mauro Vieira has said that while Indonesia, South Africa and his own country helped in pushing the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, the “final success” was due to India’s hard work and ability to convince all countries.

In an interview with HT in New York on Friday, after he had just finished chairing the India-Brazil-South Africa ministerial meeting, Vieira said IBSA was a “very important grouping” where the three countries share a common goal of global institutional reform and discuss a range of social and political issues, drive cooperation on the global stage, serve as a steering committee for G20, and deliver development benefits elsewhere.

In what is among the first reactions from a country of the global south on Canada’s charges against India — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has alleged possible links between agents of the government of India with the killing of a man India designated as a terrorist on Canadian soil — Brazil said it did not have a position on the issue and it was a bilateral matter between two other countries, adding IBSA was not the forum to discuss it.

Asked about the takeaways from the IBSA ministerial, Brazil’s foreign minister said that for him, it was a special moment since this was the first meeting he chaired after receiving the presidency from India earlier in the year. “This is a very important grouping. We can discuss many issues like the social dialogue between our societies and political issues. We can discuss our common positions in many different international forums and we can also promote cooperation with other countries. The IBSA fund is working very well. It has financed 42 projects in 37 different countries9, and we also have another kind of synergy,” Vieira said.

He pointed out that the three IBSA members will soon serve as the troika for the G20– from November, once India hands over the presidency to Brazil, as the past, present and next presidency of the grouping, Delhi, Pretoria and Brasilia will then act as a “steering committee” for the group.

The three countries, the minister said, were “developing countries with similar visions of world problems and similar goals like the reform of global governance, especially the United Nations Security Council and the World Trade Organization”. He claimed that India, Brazil and South Africa wanted to promote global peace, understanding and cooperation among their governments.

With India acknowledging the role played by Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa in carving out a consensus during G20, HT asked the minister if he could give a sense of the collaboration among the countries.

Giving credit to external affairs minister S Jaishankar, Vieira said, “Yes. Four countries were working together pushing for this important declaration. But I think the final success was due to the hard work that India and minister Jaishankar put into this presidency. And he was finally able to convince all parts of the G20, of course with the support of Indonesia, Brazil, and South Africa. But it was due mainly to his ability and his hard work.”

Asked if Brazil had a position on Canada’s recent allegations against India and whether it had come up in discussions, Vieira said, “No, I don’t have a position on that. I think it is between the two other countries. I don’t know the details, but we didn’t discuss this issue in this forum. It’s for another kind of issue.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asserted that the “credible allegations” related to the potential link between Indian agents and the killing of Khalistani figure Hardeep Nijjar were communicated to New Delhi “weeks ago.”

Trudeau’s charges have led to a series of fallouts, including both countries expelling diplomats.

Emboldened by Trudeau’s allegations, the secessionist group Sikhs for Justice or SFJ has called for shutting down India’s mission in Canada on September 25 and for the expulsion of India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.