Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called upon world leaders to ensure that the Israel-Hamas war does not turn into a regional conflict and highlighted the necessity to ensure timely and continuous delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

       Addressing the Virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit, Modi said when he proposed the summit in September, nobody anticipated what the global situation would be like today. “New challenges have arisen in the past months. The situation of insecurity and instability in the West Asia region is a matter of concern for all of us. Our coming together today symbolises that we are sensitive to all issues and stand together to resolve them. We believe that terrorism is unacceptable to all of us. The death of civilians, wherever they happen, is condemnable,” he said.

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       Welcoming the announcement of the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas on Wednesday, Modi highlighted the importance of raising voice against terrorism and violence, and towards humanity. “It is also important to ensure that the war between Israel and Hamas does not take any regional form. Despite the clouds of crisis that we are seeing today, One Family has the power to work for peace,” he said.

       The prime minister also spoke about the “negative effects” of artificial intelligence and the dangers posed by deepfakes, and made a strong pitch for global regulation of the emerging technology.

       The virtual summit was attended by many G20 heads of states, invited world leaders, and heads of international organisations. While US President Joe Biden and Chinese president Xi Jinping gave it a miss, Russian president Vladimir Putin and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the meeting.

       During the summit, leaders reviewed progress in the implementation of outcomes and action points from the New Delhi Summit. In his closing remarks, Modi said there is convergence among G20 countries on zero tolerance for terrorism, that killing of innocents, particularly women and children is unacceptable; and that a two-state solution is the permanent solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict.

       Putin told the world leaders that it was necessary to think about how to stop “the tragedy” of the war in Ukraine, and said Moscow had never refused to participate in peace talks with Kyiv. “Yes, of course, military actions are always a tragedy. And of course, we should think about how to stop this tragedy. By the way, Russia has never refused peace talks with Ukraine,” he said.

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       Putin had skipped previous G20 Summits in New Delhi and Nusa Dua, Indonesia, sending Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov instead.

       Earlier, Modi in his opening statement said it was necessary to bring reforms in the global economic and governance structures to make them effective and ensure timely and affordable assistance to needy countries. “The countries of the Global South are going through many difficulties for which they are not responsible. In this context, the need of the hour is that we give our full support to the development agenda,” he added.

       The prime minister hoped the upcoming COP-28 being held in the United Arab Emirates would take concrete steps towards some of the issues endorsed by G20 countries, such as increasing climate finance from billion to trillion dollars, trebling the use of renewable energy by 2030, and mission LiFE, i.e lifestyle for environment, for pro-planet approach.

       Modi said the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Repository announced in the New Delhi G20 Summit is ready and more than 50 DPIs from 16 countries have been added to it. “To implement DPI in countries of the Global South, I propose to establish a Social Impact Fund. On behalf of India, I also announce an initial amount of 25 million dollars for this. I hope that all of you will join this initiative,” he said.

       Highlighting the increasing concern about the negative use of artificial intelligence (AI) around the world, Modi said India has a clear thinking that countries need to work together on the global regulation of AI. “Today in the age of artificial intelligence, there is a need to use technology in a responsible manner. We have to move forward in understanding the seriousness of deepfake and how dangerous it is for society and the individual. We want AI to reach people, and it must be safe for society. With this approach, the Global AI Partnership Summit is being organized in India next month,” he added.

       With inputs from Reuters