Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with heads of several countries on January 12 and 13, will review the adverse impact of the Ukraine conflict on food, fertilisers and fuel supplies to the developing countries.
The virtual “Voice of Global South” summit hosted by India will also take up other issues like climate change and bring together countries of this grouping.
More than 120 countries have been invited for the high-profile event, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra announced here on Friday. It will provide an important feed into the deliberations of the G-20 summit, he said.
India has assumed the presidency of the G-20 this year and will host the summit in September.
The participants in the virtual summit next week will share their common concerns and perspectives relating to various challenges, Kwatra said and also referred to the Ukraine conflict and its implications on food and energy security.
“Global South” is a grouping of countries of Asia, Africa and South America while “Global North” refers loosely to countries like the US, Canada, Europe, Russia, Australia and New Zealand.
The nations of the world which are regarded as having a relatively low level of economic and industrial development are typically referred to as “Global South”.
Giving details of the summit, Kwatra said ten to 20 countries will be part of one session and two lead sessions will be hosted by the Prime Minister.
“We will be hosting a special virtual summit on 12th and 13th January 2023, that is next week. This summit will be called the Voice of Global South Summit under the theme Unity of Voice and Unity of purpose,” Kwatra said.
“It essentially envisages bringing together countries of the global south and sharing their perspective and priorities on a common platform across a whole range of issues,” he added.
This initiative is inspired by the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’. It is also underpinned by India’s philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, the Foreign Secretary said.
“India’s Presidency of G20 will be shaped not just in consultations with G20 partners but with those countries which are not members of G20 but have an ecosystem of concerns, priorities and interests which are very crucial for the success of G20. Evidence would show that relevant mechanisms that are supposed to take on board their concerns and mitigate them, both in multilateral framework and in plurilateral settings, have proved inadequate,” the Foreign Secretary said.
He also said countries of the “Global South” often do not receive due attention and space on the global stage. The relevant existing international platforms are inadequate to address these challenges, Kwatra added.
The two-day summit will begin on January 12 with an inaugural session to be addressed by Modi that will be attended by several heads of Government.
India has always been in the forefront and very consistent in championing the cause of the developing world and decided on such a summit in view of the recent global developments that have severely impacted the developing world across many domains, he said.
The first disruption came from the Covid pandemic followed by the impact of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine which has put a question mark on the affordability of food, fertilisers and fuel, the Foreign Secretary said.
The issue of climate change with its attendant issues of financing will also come up for discussions. Talks will also be held on the increasing burden on developing countries of mounting debt and inflationary pressures that are beginning to take a toll on the structural parameters of these economies.
“A consultative and outcome oriented conversation focusing on the most pressing concerns, interests and priorities of developing countries is the need of the hour. India’s endeavor is to provide a common platform to deliberate on the concerns and priorities that concern developing countries as also to exchange ideas and solutions,” said the Foreign Secretary.
India, he said, will work to ensure that inputs from countries of the Global South receive due cognisance globally as it feels that its ongoing presidency of G20 provides a special and strong opportunity to channelise these inputs in deliberation and discourse of G20.
The summit will have 10 sessions over two days of which two will be at the head of State/Government and eight at the Ministerial level. Each session will have a group of 10 to 20 participating countries. Many of the sessions will be held in parallel because of the need to factor in different time zones. External Affairs and Finance Ministers of the Global South will take part in these sessions.