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Proposing the creation of a human-centric “Global Development Compact”, PM Narendra Modi Saturday called the Voice of the Global South Summit a platform to “give voice to the needs and aspirations of those who have been unheard till now”.
PM Modi, delivering his opening remarks during the virtually held India-hosted third summit, said, “global governance and financial institutions formed in the last century have been unable to fight the challenges of this century.”
Elaborating on the global challenges countries are grappling with, he said there is an “atmosphere of uncertainty all around” and the “world has not yet fully come out of the effects of Covid.”
“The situation of war has posed challenges to our development journey. We are already facing challenges of climate change, and now there are also concerns about health security, food security, and energy security,” he said.
“Terrorism, extremism and separatism remain a serious threat to our societies. Technology divide and new economic and social challenges related to technology are also emerging,” he said, underlining the solution to various global conflicts and tensions lies in inclusive global governance.
Announcing the ‘Compact’, PM Modi said needy countries will not be burdened with debt in the name of development finance. The foundation of the ‘Compact’, he said, will be based on India’s development journey and experiences of development partnership.”
“Under this Compact we will focus on trade for development, capacity building for sustainable growth, technology sharing, project-specific concessional finance and grants. To strengthen trade promotion activities, India will start a special fund of USD 2.5 million,” he said, adding that a fund of USD 1 million will be provided for this.
Urging that steps be taken to reduce the gap between the Global North and the Global South, he said the Summit of the Future in the UN next month can become an “important milestone for all this” and emphasised that the Global South need to unit, stand together in one voice, become each other’s strength and learn from each other’s experience.
Referring to the G20 presidency last year, the PM said, “The Global DPI Repository, created under our G20 presidency, was the first ever multilateral consensus on DPI. We are happy that agreements have been signed to share the ‘India Stack’ with 12 partners from the Global South. To accelerate DPI in the Global South, we have created a Social Impact Fund. India will make an initial contribution of USD 25 million to it.”
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, speaking at the foreign ministers’ session, once again batted for reforms of key multilateral institutions, and said, “It is an undeniable fact that even as global order faced critical challenges, solutions did not emerge from the multilateral domain. The reason is both the obsolescence and the polarisation of multilateral organisations.”
“Here too, India has argued for reformed multilateralism and sought reforms of Multilateral Development Banks through the G20. As a group, we need to press home our case,” he said.
Jaishankar also talked about the impact of various conflicts and geopolitical tensions on the Global South. “This gathering takes place as the world grapples with multiple conflicts, tensions and stresses. We, the nations of Global South, are particularly impacted,” he said.
Sharing his views on economic resilience, he said the experience of the pandemic, conflicts and climate events have driven home the necessity for reliable and resilient supply chains.
“Not just that, there is also an acute need to diversify production itself in various domains to de-risk the international economy,” he said.
After the summit, he told mediapersons that among the issues discussed was the Gaza situation, particularly civilian casualties. “The sentiment was that the situation needs to go back to a ceasefire and negotiation,” he said. Without naming any country, he said that some countries brought up sanctions and discussed volatile energy security markets. He said the issue of “political interference” was also raised. Speaking on need for reforms in the UN, he said, “If we really believe in a democratic world order, we think these 190-odd members [of the UN] should be allowed to vote about the future of the UN…”