NEW DELHI: India will host a virtual meeting of G20 leaders on November 22 to follow up on crucial decisions made at the grouping’s summit in September, especially the development agenda, and to discuss other global issues, people familiar with the matter said.

The proposal to hold the virtual leaders’ summit was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the summit held in New Delhi on September 9-10, though no date had been finalised at the time.

Besides the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas conflict is expected to be raised by some member states, the people said on condition of anonymity. Like other G20 states, India has condemned the Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel and called for the cessation of hostilities. The Indian side has also finalised an agenda that has been shared with G20 members, they said.

There will be no outcome documents at the virtual summit, though the Indian side is likely to issue a press statement after the meet. Modi’s opening remarks at the meeting will be televised live while the rest of the discussions will be conducted behind closed doors.

The people pointed out that there have been past instances of a country holding the G20 presidency hosting more than one summit. Italy, which held the presidency in 2021, organised an extraordinary leaders’ summit on Afghanistan some months after the Taliban assumed power in Kabul.

“The virtual summit will be an opportunity to assess what has been done since the in-person summit in September. There will be an exchange of views and an agenda has been prepared and shared with the G20 members,” one of the people cited above said.

“The Indian side will offer its views on how it sees things and other member states are expected to do the same. The development agenda pushed by India will remain in focus,” the person added.

A second person said: “The Indian side opted to hold the in-person summit earlier than usual, and that left us with some time to do a follow-up and make an assessment of all that has happened since September.”

The virtual meet will be held a little more than a week before India hands over the rotating presidency of the G20 to Brazil on December 1. External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a media briefing last month that invitations for the virtual summit had been extended to all G20 members and guest countries and India is hoping for a “high degree of participation”.

The joint leaders’ declaration unveiled at the G20 Summit in September was seen as a key diplomatic achievement for India given the differences over the Ukraine conflict, which previously held up joint statements at all ministerial meetings.

The declaration said that, in line with the UN Charter, all countries must refrain from the use of force to “seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty” of any state. Without naming Russia, it emphasised the importance of sustaining food and energy security and called for a cessation of military destruction or other attacks on infrastructure.