The leader of Indonesia tells a newspaper that he is worried that global unrest may overshadow an economic summit.
According to his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo, Russian President Vladimir Putin is not likely to attend the upcoming G20 leaders’ summit in Bali.
The summit’s host, Widodo, told the Financial Times that he has a “strong hunch” that the Russian president won’t attend the meeting.
In the interview that was made public on Monday, Widodo stated that Russia was welcome at the summit and expressed concerns that a “very frightening” escalation in international tensions would overshadow the event.
“The G20 is not intended to be a forum for politics.” He told the newspaper, It’s supposed to be about economy and development.
Widodo’s remarks follow Putin’s declaration last month that he would “consider” going to the meeting but that Russia would “certainly” have a high-level representative there.
The G20 summit will be the first meeting of the heads of the largest economies in the world following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it is anticipated that the war’s aftermath will take centre stage.
In addition to committing to remain neutral and highlighting the possibilities for collaboration on food and energy security, Indonesia has resisted efforts from Western nations and Ukraine to ban Russia from the summit.
16 G20 members voted in favor of a resolution denouncing Moscow’s attempted annexation of four regions of eastern Ukraine at the UN General Assembly last month. The European Union is not represented at the UN body, along with other G20 members China, India, and South Africa, which all chose to abstain.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, has declined Widodo’s invitation because of Putin’s presence. World leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden are anticipated to attend the conference.
