India hands over G20 presidency to Brazil

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called an end Sunday to the G20 summit in New Delhi by passing on a ceremonial gavel to Brazil, which will take the bloc’s presidency

“I want to congratulate Brazil’s president and my friend Lula da Silva, and hand over the presidency’s gavel to him,” the PM said.

He offered best wishes to Brazil for the presidency. Brazil officially will take over the mantle of the presidency of the elite grouping on December 1 this year.

At the close of the bloc’s annual summit in New Delhi, Lula said, “We cannot let geopolitical issues sequester the G20 agenda of discussions. We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead of conflict.”

PM Modi on Sunday proposed a virtual session of the G20 around the end of November to take stock of the suggestions and decisions made at the leaders’ summit that concluded here on Sunday.

The Prime Minister noted that India’s presidency of G20 would officially continue till November 30 and over two-and-half months were left for its tenure as the head of the grouping, PTI reported.

“In the last two days, you have put forward your views, given suggestions and a number of proposals have been put forward. It is our responsibility that the suggestions that have come forth are closely looked upon as to how they can be speeded up,” PM Modi said.

“It is my proposal that we hold another session of the G20 virtually in November- end. In that session, we can review the issues that have been agreed upon during this summit. Our teams will share the details of it with all of view. I hope all of you will join this (session),” he added.