Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday appealed for unity to resolve prevailing geopolitical tensions at G20 foreign ministers' meeting being held in the Indian capital of New Delhi.

Modi said that the world looks upon G20 to deal with challenges of development, economic resilience, financial stability, corruption, terrorism and food and energy security.

He said that India has selected the theme of "One Earth, One Family, One Future" for its G20 presidency, which signals the need for unity of purpose and unity of action.

"I hope that your meeting today will reflect this spirit of coming together for achieving common and concrete objectives," he said.

"You are meeting at a time of big global divisions. Naturally this foreign ministers' meeting will be affected by geopolitical tensions of the day. We all have our positions and perspectives as to how this tension should be resolved," said Modi.

As the chair of the meeting, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said "as we look ahead, there are both pressing and more systemic challenges that we all confront. The future of multilateralism depends very much on our ability to strengthen it in a changing world."

"Food and energy security are immediate anxieties, magnified by recent events. But they do have long-term repercussions and solutions. And development cooperation is part of that larger solution that we are deliberating upon today," he said.

The meeting will focus on challenges of food, fertilizers and fuel security, and such issues should not be relegated to the periphery of the international discourse, he said, adding that they are crucial to the global economy and must be treated as such.

"Indeed, we urge that they be central to any decision making. Along with that, the world must also strive for more reliable and resilient supply chains," he said.