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Calls mount for Indonesia to invite Ukraine to G20 Summit
Indonesia is finding itself caught between a rock and a hard place as pressure mounts from G20 members to invite Ukraine to November's summit.
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Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi (right) speaks to her Canadian counterpart, Mélanie Joly, during a visit on April 12, 2022 at the Foreign Ministry in Central Jakarta. (Courtesy of Foreign Ministry/Adit)
The Russian-Ukranian war has become increasingly difficult for Indonesia's G20 presidency to ignore as the country faces renewed calls to invite Ukraine to the 2022 Group of 20 Bali Summit in November, if it was insisting on Russia’s attendance.
The topic was broached during Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly’s visit to Jakarta on Monday, when she said she would “not be sitting with [Sergey] Lavrov at the same table” at the G20 summit, referring to the Russian foreign minister, in an echo of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s sentiment as expressed on March 31.
Canada understood that Indonesia was in a “tough position”, she said, because it did not want issues over the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine to hijack discussions on other items on the G20 agenda.
Later on Monday during a discussion hosted by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI), Joly said she had met with President Joko Widodo and Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi for the express aim of discussing ways that Indonesia could deal with the Russian-Ukrainian war during its G20 presidency. Joly also raised various bilateral issues during her visit, the first on her tour of Asia since she was installed as foreign minister in October 2021.
“I think that Ukraine should be invited. I think [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky’s message has resonated around the world. His communications have also been very impactful, and that impact needs to be continued in time,” Joly added.
The idea to invite Ukraine to the G20 summit was first floated by United States President Joe Biden, who said the country should be allowed to attend if Russia was still invited.
The forum grouping the world’s largest economies has served as a multilateral problem-solving platform, and its membership includes nations that have been reluctant to condemn Russia’s actions.
