G20's mandate can't advance if Global South concerns not met: S Jaishankar
G20 is to promote economic growth and development, and that cannot advance if the crucial concerns of the Global South are not addressed, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday.
«For a variety of reasons that range from scale, subsidy, technology, human resources & strategic choices, the Global South was reduced to being a consumer rather than a producer,» Jaishankar said in his address at the B20 Summit organised by CII ahead of the September 9-10 G20 Summit.
«It is, however, an undeniable reality that the international system remains dominated by the Global North. This is naturally reflected in the composition of G20 as well.
Perhaps this mattered less when the globalisation process appeared to offer more opportunities but as its inequities and unevenness became more apparent and then as we saw the Covid pandemic take a horrific toll across the world, the need to focus on developing countries became more compelling,» the minister said.
«Their contribution very often was to provide resources for manufacturing elsewhere. They not only didn't reap the full benefits of economic change but often ended up saddled with unviable debts emanating from opaque initiatives.»
He noted that the ongoing global challenges, including the repercussions of the Ukraine conflict on food, energy and fertiliser security, have added to complexities.
«When India assumed the G20 presidency last December, we were acutely conscious that most of the Global South would not be at the table when we met, this mattered very much… therefore PM decided to convene the Voice of the Global South Summit in January this year and we heard about their challenges and priorities, and these have been made central to the G20 agenda.»
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