A year of work depended on it. India’s diplomatic mettle has been tested – a joint statement from the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies and most powerful nations, deeply divided over the Ukraine war.

More than 200 hours of continuous negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings and 15 drafts went into consensus-building on the geopolitical Paras (Russia-Ukraine) that brought about the Delhi Declaration on September 9 with 100 percent consensus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant praised his four-officer-led team for paving the way for the joint statement aimed at getting member states to think about language in context to agree with the war.

Kant used X, formerly Twitter, to thank his team for their tireless work. Here are the four officers who spearheaded the communiqué from the front:

Abhay Thakur

Additional Secretary (G20) & Sous Sherpa Abhay Thakur is a 1992 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer who has served as India’s Envoy to Mauritius and Nigeria. He was also the Permanent Representative of India to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

According to a report by Indian Express, Thakur speaks Russian, a language he learned during his training, which came in handy during the G20 negotiations.

Also read: On the last day of the summit, Russia describes the G20 statement as “balanced”

Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur

Joint Secretary (G20-I), Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur, spent almost 13 years of his career in key positions in the Chinese Embassy. He served as Chief of the President’s Cabinet at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly before becoming a key negotiator for India’s G20 presidency.

A career diplomat and a 1998-batch IFS officer, Kakanur is fluent in Chinese, which likely helped New Delhi convince Beijing and facilitate a joint statement.

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Ashish Kumar Sinha

Joint Secretary (G20-II), Ashish Kumar Sinha, was First Secretary of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. Sinha addressed key issues related to the Business 20 and Startup 20 engagement groups during India’s G20 Presidency. According to his profile on X, he is passionate about climate issues, tennis and Indian classical music.

Eenam Gambhir

Joint Secretary (G20-III), Eenam Gambhir, earlier in her career, worked as a Second Secretary at the Indian Embassy in Argentina.

Gambhir was also a senior adviser on peace and security issues in the Office of the President of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly. The diplomat is fluent in Spanish and has dealt with issues related to India’s neighborhood, particularly Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, in various capacities while working in New Delhi.