Russia ‘dissociates’ itself from G20 Tourism ministerial meeting’s outcome

The two paragraphs were taken from the Bali Declaration issued by G20 leaders in November last year, which called for an immediate end to the Ukraine conflict, holding that “today’s era must not be of war”, echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to Russian President Vladimir Putin in their bilateral meeting in Uzbekistan last September. “Russia disassociated itself from the status of this document as a common outcome because of references to para 4 and 5,” the document mentions.

However, the G20 tourism ministers “reaffirmed the importance of working towards the full recovery of tourism from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and advancing the role of tourism in accelerating the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

According to officials, more than 12 tourism ministers, including those from the UK, South Africa, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Mauritius, attended the G20 tourism ministerial meet in Goa. China, which didn’t send its representation to the last tourism working group meeting in Srinagar (along with Turkey and Saudi Arabia), didn’t attend this meeting as well.

Besides China, Egypt – as a G20 guest country – didn’t send its representation this time after skipping the Srinagar meet. Ministers from G20 countries, around 130 delegates, participated in the Goa meeting.

The ministers unanimously supported the five tourism priority areas identified by India’s G20 Presidency — Green Tourism; Digitalisation, Skills, Tourism MSMEs, and Destination Management.

They also committed to advancing “gender equality and empowerment of women through tourism policies and initiatives”. The document said even as women account for 54 per cent of the sector’s global labour force worldwide, they tend to be concentrated in the lowest paid and lowest status jobs in tourism, and perform a large amount of unpaid work in family tourism businesses.

In his message to the G20 ministers on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had underlined that tourism has the potential to create a harmonious society. “It is said that terrorism divides, but tourism unites,” he said.

Addressing reporters at the conclusion of the event, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy said the Goa Roadmap for Tourism — another official document released at the end of the meeting — will serve as a shared blueprint for G20 nations to achieve the 17 SDGs identified by the UN. India also held several bilateral meetings on the sidelines, including those with Oman, Brazil and South Africa.