Japan Surprised By Sudden G20 Declaration

Japanese officials were taken by surprise when the adoption of the leaders' declaration at the G20 summit in India's capital was suddenly announced on September 9, as reported by Taiki Akasawa for Mainichi Japan.

On the first day of the summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the unexpected announcement that the declaration had been adopted. I Photo: G20 India Facebook

There were concerns that the leaders of industrial and emerging market nations might not reach a consensus on the declaration.

However, around 3:30 p.m. (7 p.m. Japan time) on September 9, the first day of the summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the unexpected announcement that the declaration had been adopted.

Modi stated, "I have recently received the good news that, thanks to the hard work of all the teams, we have reached a consensus on the G20 Leaders Summit Declaration."

He made this announcement at the beginning of a meeting to discuss the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), health, and other issues.

Around the same time, in a hotel conference room in central New Delhi near the summit venue, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was providing details of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's statements to reporters.

When asked about Modi's announcement, a Foreign Ministry official responded with surprise, saying, "I haven't heard his remarks, so I don't know. All I can say is that it hadn't been finalized until we arrived here."

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