India to host Global South summit for 120 nations

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, January 6

India will host a two-day virtual meeting of more than 120 nations next week titled “Voice of Global South Summit” which will provide important insights for the deliberations of the G20 summit, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said here on Friday.

“India’s G20 Presidency will be shaped in consultation with member states and countries that are not part of the G20, but have an ecosystem of concerns, priorities and interests that are crucial for the success of G20. Evidence will show that relevant mechanisms that are supposed to take on board their concerns and mitigate them, both in multilateral and plurilateral settings, have proved inadequate,” said the Foreign Secretary.

Platform for developing world

India’s endeavour is to provide a common platform to deliberate on the concerns and priorities of developing countries, and exchange ideas and solutions. —Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Foreign Secy

“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,” said Kwatra.

The Global South largely refers to developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America.

The two-day summit will begin on January 12 with an inaugural session to be addressed by PM Narendra Modi. Several heads of government will attend the summit.

“It is essentially envisaged to bring together countries of the global south and share their perspectives and priorities on a common platform,” said Kwatra while pointing out that the initiative was inspired by PM Modi’s vision of “sabka saath, sabka vishwas, sabka prayas”.

India, he said, had always been at the forefront and consistent in championing the cause of the developing world and decided on such a summit in view of the recent global developments that had severely impacted the developing world across many domains.

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. 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 the mounting debt and inflationary pressures.