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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India’s G20 Presidency advocated for finding solutions from within the Global South. He said that India walked the talk by hosting the first Voice of the Global South Summit in January 2023 and added that the nations were able to hold discussions on the key concerns and priorities of the Global South.
While addressing the Foreign Ministers Session of the Second Voice of the Global South, Jaishankar said, “As we took over the G20 presidency last year, Prime Minister Modi declared that and I quote “Our G20 priorities will be shaped in consultation with not just our G20 partners, but also our fellow travellers from the Global South, whose voice often goes unheard.” India has since walked the talk by hosting the first voice of the Global South Summit in January this year. By doing so, we were able to elicit and deliberate on the key concerns and priorities of the Global South. This, in turn, informed our approach to the G20 discussions throughout the year.”
The External Affairs Minister noted that long-standing structural inequities have been seriously aggravated by the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Jaishankar stressed that it has turned worse due to the fuel, food and fertilizer crisis emanating from the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and its response. He stated that India is hosting the Second Voice of Global South to report on key outcomes from the New Delhi G20 Summit.
“All of us are acutely aware of the growing stress on the international economy and global society. Long-standing structural inequities have been seriously aggravated by the devastation of the COVID pandemic. This has been made worse by the fuel, food and fertilizer crisis emanating from the Ukraine conflict and its responses,” Jaishankar said.
