G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting - India visit of Catherine Colonna

New Delhi, 2-3 March 2023

Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna took part in the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting that was held in New Delhi on March 2, under the Indian presidency.

As the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine continue to endanger energy and food security as well as the most vulnerable countries’ access to financing, the ministers discussed their collective responses to these challenges in line with the commitments taken at the G20 summit in Bali last November. Ms. Colonna expressed support for the Indian presidency’s efforts to ensure that the G20 continues to speak with one voice on the war in Ukraine, to denounce the consequence of that war and to call for the restoration of peace in keeping with the principles of the UN Charter, despite opposition from two members of the group. She called for the G20 countries to share responsibility in order to meet the needs of populations most heavily impacted by the consequences of the war.

In the face of the worsening climate crisis, Ms. Colonna invited her G20 counterparts to promote a more ambitious approach to financing sustainable development and the climate ahead of the June Summit for a new Global Financial Pact announced by President Macron. This summit will be hosted by France, in close cooperation with the Indian G20 presidency. She urged the G20 countries to continue making concrete progress on decarbonizing their economies and to fully implement the agreement reached at the Kunming-Montreal COP15 on protecting biodiversity.

On this second visit to India by Minister Colonna, she paid a bilateral visit to Delhi on March 2 that focused on people-to-people exchanges. She emphasized how much France values its relationship with India, a country with which we have a major strategic partnership that is marking its 25th anniversary this year.

The minister met with her Indian counterpart, S. Jaishankar, to discuss major international issues and our joint initiatives in the Indo-Pacific, and reviewed various aspects of our partnership. She also met the Indian minister of culture to discuss the new National Museum project. She unveiled the Villa Swagatam initiative, an India-wide artist residency program; she attended an event on gender equality; and launched an exchange program for talented French and Indian young people.