Biden, Xi Jinping to skip G20 virtual summit

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host a virtual meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 Wednesday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said, though Chinese President Xi Jinping won’t be attending, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that Premier Li Qiang will attend the G-20 video summit instead.

The gathering is set for a day after Modi skipped a virtual meeting of leaders from rising economies attended by Xi, where the group discussed the Israel-Hamas conflict. That meeting was attended by Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar instead, Indian media reported.

India hopes to review the progress made in the year since it’s held the presidency, when it pushed for emerging economies’ development as the central agenda. India secured a joint statement at the G-20 Leaders’ Summit in September, amid divisions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Since then, the Israel-Hamas war has added to the discord between the developed world and countries in the Global South.