Indonesia’s Widodo calls on G20 to work to ‘end the war’

Indonesian president appears to reference Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as he opens key global summit in Bali.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has opened the G20 summit in Bali with a call for the world to “end the war” and bridge “wide differences” amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has fuelled geopolitical tension and caused a surge in food and energy prices in much of the world .

Telling delegates that it was an honour for Indonesia to host the event, Widodo, who is popularly known as Jokowi, acknowledged the mood.

“I understand we need huge efforts to be able to sit together in this room,” he said.

The Indonesian president said the world could not afford to fall into another cold war, and said G20 members must work to “end the war”, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine.

“Being responsible means creating not zero-sum situations, being responsible here also means that we must end the war. If the war does not end, it will be difficult for the world to move forward,” he told leaders ahead of the summit’s opening session.

The G20 groups together 19 countries and the European Union, representing the world’s 20 largest economies, including Russia.

Indonesia has sought to be a bridge builder ever since Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine on February 24. Jokowi has visited both Kyiv and Moscow extending an invitation to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite calls within the group that Russia be barred.

In the event, Putin declined and he is being represented in Bali by his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, is due to address the summit by video link later on Tuesday and pointedly referred to the “G19 summit” when speaking in his nightly video to Ukrainians on the eve of the event.

Earlier, an official from the United States said that most nations in the group had come together during talks in recent days and agreed that Russia’s war in Ukraine should be condemned.

“I won’t get ahead of the final negotiations but the G20 will make clear that Russia’s war is wreaking havoc for people everywhere and for the global economy as a whole,” said the official, who spoke about the US view on the summit on condition of anonymity.

The official said most G20 nations agreed that the war in Ukraine was “the root of the economic suffering and instability that we see in many parts of the world.”