Ahead of the G20 summit, India on Friday said the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration is "almost ready" and will be recommended to the leaders of the grouping during the conclave.

Refusing to get into the specifics of sticking points such as the Russia-Ukraine war and climate-related issues, India's top G20 officials told a pre-summit press conference that they were hopeful of clinching a joint communique by consensus.

"India's expectation is that all G20 members will move towards a consensus and we are hopeful of a consensus on the communique," Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said in response to a question on the Ukraine conflict holding up an agreement on the New Delhi Declaration.

The G20 Leaders' Summit gets underway on Saturday and will conclude the next day.

On the inclusion of the African Union in the G20 bloc, Kwatra said he expected that Summit proceedings starting Saturday would take a "suitable decision" on it.

India also said its presidency of the G20 has lived up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of being inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented and very decisive.

Addressing a press conference ahead of the two-day summit beginning Saturday, India's G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant said New Delhi Leaders' Declaration will be the voice of the global south and developing countries.

Prime Minister Modi had asserted India's presidency should be inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented and decisive, he said.

"These are the four principles on which we have worked. We have lived up to his vision of being inclusive, action-oriented, ambitious and very decisive during our presidency," Kant said.

"Our New Delhi Leaders' Declaration is almost ready, I would not like to dwell on it because this declaration will be recommended to the leaders during the Summit and the leaders will then accept it and only after it is accepted by the leaders, we will be able to talk about the actual achievements of this declaration," he said.

Over 220 G20-related meetings were held in 60 cities across the country, showcasing India's diversity and federal structure, Kant said.

“China is a multilateral player. In multilateral discussions, the issues are very different from bilateral issues and the Chinese discuss issues of growth, and development from their perspective", Kant said when asked about Chinese President Xi Jinping not attending the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

"The challenge about any multilateral discussion is you have to bring consensus across every issue, every country has veto power. We've been able to work with every single country and bring them on board”, he added while speaking at the press briefing.

With Jinping skipping the global meet, Chinese Premier Li Qiang will be attending the event in the national capital. The 70-year-old Chinese president is the second head of a state of a G20 member country after Russia's Vladimir Putin to skip the Summit.

Over 220 G20-related meetings were held in 60 cities across the country, showcasing India's diversity and federal structure, Kant said.

The Leaders Summit will comprise three key sessions -- One Earth, One Family and One Future besides other side events.

President Droupadi Murmu is hosting a dinner in honour of the G20 leaders on Saturday.

The G20 leaders will visit Raj Ghat to offer tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.

India is set to make a dash for a goal line at the two-day G20 summit beginning Saturday in addressing some of the complex global challenges such as concerns of the Global South, consequences of the Ukraine conflict, gloomy economic scenario, and fostering inclusive growth amid a fragmented geopolitical environment.

Modi, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders of the G20 grouping as well as chiefs of many leading world bodies like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are converging in the national capital for the summit.

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