Addressing the India-UN for Global South event in New York on Saturday, Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar underlined the importance of South-South cooperation.
East-West Polarisation
Jaishankar said that the recent G20 Summit in New Delhi was a “challenging” summit, as well as “a challenging presidency” for India, as the world is “confronting a very sharp East-West polarisation” in addition to “a very deep North-South divide.”
The EAM added that during the course of the many deliberations, it was “very clear” that the Global South has borne the brunt of “the consequences of structural inequality iniquities and historical burdens,” as well as “the impact of mercantilism and economic concentration” and the “devastating consequences” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He noted that geopolitical conflicts have impacted “very basic requirements of many countries including their affordable access to food, to fertilisers, and to energy.”
Thus, Jaishankar stressed that it was “a particularly onerous responsibility” for India to ensure that the grouping could refocus “on the urgent, pressing needs of the Global South,” which he believed was reflected in the eight “key outcomes” of the New Delhi G20 Summit.
These outcomes included:
An action plan for sustainable development, reform of international financial institutions, a green development pact, an understanding on debt management, a consensus on woman-led development, and an agreement on digital public infrastructure.
“We do believe that the New Delhi Summit of the G20 has in many ways laid the foundation for the international community really to look at its development prospects. Hopefully with greater optimism…the decade ahead would allow us really to overcome the challenges that we have all experienced over… the last few years,” the diplomat concluded.
On Membership of the African Union
Jaishankar noted that “one of the really important outcomes” of the G20 was the membership of the African Union (AU).