Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for the human face of globalisation ensuring prosperity for all and does not create a climate crisis or debt crisis, besides not leading to unequal distribution of vaccines.
Making this assertion at the Global South Summit here hosted by India, the PM said, “We appreciate the principle of globalisation but developing countries also desire that it does not lead to over-concentrated global supply chains. We want globalisation that brings prosperity and well-being to humanity as a whole. In short, we want human-centric globalisation.”
A day after cautioning that the world is facing a crisis due to the Ukraine conflict and climate change, while inaugurating the two-day summit hosted by India, the Prime Minister on Friday said geopolitical tensions distracted us from focusing on our development priorities.
“To address geopolitical fragmentation, we urgently need fundamental reform of international bodies, including UN Security Council,” he said.
Enunciating these issues, Modi announced a new Aarogya Maitri project. Under this project, India will provide essential medical supplies to any developing country affected by natural disasters or humanitarian crises.
Moreover, India will establish a Global South Centre of Excellence. This institution will undertake research on development solutions or best practices of any of our countries which can be scaled and implemented in other members of the global south, he said.
“We will launch a Global South Science and Technology initiative to share our expertise with other developing nations,” the Prime Minister said.
Modi said the last three years have been difficult, especially for the developing nations. The challenges of the Covid pandemic, rising prices of fuel, fertiliser and foodgrains, and increasing geo-political tensions have impacted our development effort
Over the past two days, this Summit has seen the participation of more than 120 developing countries — the largest-ever virtual gathering of the global south, he noted.
He also said for synergising diplomatic voice of the developing nations he proposes a Global South Young Diplomats Forum to connect youthful officers to our Foreign Ministries. India will also institute Global South scholarships for students from developing countries to pursue higher education in India, the Prime Minister said.
Referring to India’s G20 Presidency this year, Modi said the country will attempt to voice the views of the Global South on these important issues.
In its development partnership, India’s approach has been consultative, outcome-oriented, demand-driven, people-centric, and respectful of the sovereignty of partner countries, he said, adding, “I firmly believe that countries of the Global South have a lot to learn from each other’s development experiences.”
On Thursday, the Prime Minister had referred to pressing global challenges such as food and energy security triggered by the Ukraine conflict, terrorism, and climate change and said the developing countries are feeling the impact of the situation though they were not responsible for it.
“We have turned the page on another difficult year, that saw war, conflict, terrorism and geo-political tensions, rising food, fertiliser and fuel prices, climate-change driven natural disasters, and lasting economic impact of the Covid pandemic,” he said. “It is clear the world is in a state of crisis. It is difficult to predict how long this state of instability will last,” Modi said. He said there is a need to “re-energise” the world, and pitched for a global agenda of ‘Respond, Recognise, Respect and Reform’ to deal with the challenges.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at the summit on Friday India and the Global South have not only a common future but also a common past. We shoulder burdens of a colonial past, even as we face inequities of the current world order, he said. He was addressing the Foreign Ministers’ Session on G20 at the Voice of Global South Summit. “While we promote faster rebalancing, more multipolarity and reformed multilateralism, it is imperative that key global conversations of our times reflect our concerns and challenges” he added. The Global South is a group of developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.