New Delhi: With advanced economies slowing down, developing countries, if united, could be able to set the agenda and “redesign” global governance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, January 12.
The prime minister was speaking at the opening session of the two-day virtual initiative, ‘Voice of The Global South’ summit. While India had sent invitations to around 120 countries, the inaugural leader’s session saw participation from 10 developing countries at the head of state or head of the government level.
The Inaugural Leaders’ Session of #VoiceOfGlobalSouth Summit is underway.
PM @narendramodi is joined by leaders of 10 countries from across the globe in deliberations on working towards building a prosperous future.
For PM’s closing remarks, watch https://t.co/7rcVoO8SNs pic.twitter.com/HHHxpi10gs
— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) January 12, 2023
The representation at the leadership level was from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Mongolia, Mozambique, Guyana, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Papua New Guinea.
Officials sources pointed out that the participation for the summit was only given to countries who are not members of the G-20. There was no official comment on whether an invitation had gone to Pakistan.
In Beijing, China indicated that it had been informed, but not invited for the summit.
“India has informed China of its considerations and plan for hosting the summit,” said Chinese spokesperson Wang Wenbin at the daily briefing of the foreign ministry on Thursday.
He asserted that China had always valued the “solidarity” and challenges faced by developing countries and had, therefore, put forward the “Global Development Initiative”. “This has given a strong boost to developing countries’ recovery and growth as well as efforts to speed up implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” said the Chinese spokesperson.
In his speech, Prime Minister Modi referred to global challenges like food and energy security triggered by the Ukraine conflict, terrorism and climate change, which has inordinately impacted developing countries.
“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-19 pandemic,” he said.
While in the last century, the global economy was driven by the developed world, “today, most of these advanced economies are slowing down.” “Clearly, in the 21st Century, global growth will come from countries of the South. I think that if we work together, we can set the global agenda,” he said.
He noted that the “world is in a state of crisis” and it was “difficult to predict how long this state of instability will last.”
“In the last century, we supported each other in our fight against foreign rule. We can do it again in this century, to create a new world order that will ensure the welfare of our citizens,” said Modi.
He called for a new global agenda of “Respond, Recognise, Respect and Reform”.
He said that the “new and creative ideas” that emanated from the summit will “form the basis of our Voice in the G-20 and other forums”.
On the first day, there were separate sessions for ministers of foreign affairs, finance, and environment.
While the opening remarks of the Indian chairs were live-streamed, rest of the deliberations were closed to public.