Saint Petersburg – G20 leaders meeting here last night called a working dinner to discuss the escalating political situation in Syria.
The meeting which continued through to midnight was attended by almost all leaders of the G20 countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who chaired the opening of the summit earlier in the day, proposed instead that a gala dinner be held for all participants at the summit to allow leaders to discuss Syria instead of letting the issue dominate debate at the main gathering. After all, G20 summits are about the economy, not politics.
"I suggest we do this during dinner so we … can discuss the problems we had gathered here for, the problems which are key to the G20 countries," Putin said in his opening address.
SANews spotted UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon entering the venue of the dinner late last night. He was followed by other leaders, including President Jacob Zuma, US President Barack Obama, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Sing, Brazil President Dilma Rousseff, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Xi Jinping and Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto. President Jacob Zuma has been one of the leaders who have voiced their opposition to any military aim on Syria.
The government of Syria stand accused of using chemical weapons against its civilians on several occasions during the 30-month conflict in that country. The most recent attack took place on 21 August in Damascus where more than 1400 people were killed when the government allegedly unleashed chemical weapons on civilians.
It is hoped that the presence of the UN secretary general in last night’s meeting with G20 leaders may help to get the parties to reach a common ground. The United States is on record as wanting a military action in Syria after the leadership there allegedly embarked on a chemical-weapons attack that killed scores of people a week ago.
The Syrian issue is really proving to be a serious problem for the G20 leaders and the discussion they really want is for the US to abandon a plan to wind down a program to stimulate the world economy. But Obama seems to be more occupied with Syria. The US president reportedly managed to win the support of key allies on his plans to launch a “limited” strike on Syria. On Tuesday, Democrat and Republican leaders in Congress announced that that the United States should respond to Syrian President Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons.
But the Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao earlier warned the worlds most industrialised nations the risk of a potential US-led military intervention in crisis-torn Syria.
He said military action would definitely have a negative impact on the global economy, especially on the oil price. South Africa has taken the same stance against any military attack of Syria, urging global leaders to rather allow the UN to intervene in that country. In this view Pretoria was backed by Russia and China, who also warned the US not to take action without UN backing.
It’s not yet clear what agreement or disagreement the leaders arrived at, at the conclusion of their dinner meeting.
Meanwhile, Putin, in his address earlier commended his counterparts for the work they have done since the financial crisis that hit world markets in 2008, suggesting that things were now under control.
The Russian President told the summit that a global economic recovery was not yet assured and there were still risks of sliding back into crisis. “Our main task is returning the global economy towards steady and balanced growth,” he said in a speech. – SAnews.gov.za
