'Global governance has failed': Indian PM Modi at G20 meet

NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that multilateral institutions had failed to meet the world's most pressing challenges while opening the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is set to dominate the meeting of the world's top diplomats, with host India labouring to avoid the discord that ended its last G20 meeting.

"We must all acknowledge that multilateralism is in crisis today," Modi said in a recorded statement.

"The experience of the last few years - financial crisis, climate change, pandemic, terrorism and wars - clearly shows that global governance has failed." While India shares Western concerns about China, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and has ramped up Russian oil imports.

India has not condemned the Ukraine invasion, although Modi told Putin last year that this was "not a time for war" in comments seen as a rebuke to Moscow.

Modi on Thursday implored G20 delegates to make the meeting a success while tacitly acknowledging the bloc's deep divisions over the conflict. - AFP