Global South applauds India for raising its concerns with the rich and powerful–Jaishankar

Varanasi: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said on Tuesday that countries are applauding India’s efforts at highlighting the concerns of the Global South with the rich and powerful countries. Addressing journalists in Varanasi on Monday, Jaishankar said the G20 under India’s leadership has been able to understand that countries are facing severe problems.

Jaishankar said that the Development Ministers of the G20 nations have unanimously approved the action plan to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through targeted actions in transformative areas such as gender equality and empowerment of women, digital transformation, data for development and globally just transitions.

Jaishankar also announced that Singapore became the latest country to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA), which is co-led by India and France to support setting up solar projects across the world.

The minister said that it was a victory for India that the Development Ministers also approved the high-level principles on lifestyles for sustainable development to combat climate change through individual action. Under the Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), the G20 nations will promote environmentally conscious lifestyle and choices. Through this, Jaishankar said: “We will give priority to the basic needs of the vulnerable parts of the society”.

The minister added that countries are appreciative of India’s efforts at pushing the G20 platform to ask the countries about their concerns and how the G20 grouping can take up those issues with the rich nations. He added that many in the world do not realise that countries have fallen behind on progress and growth due to the pandemic and other factors.

Talking about financing, Jaishankar said India was able to get the G20 to look at climate financing. He added that the G20 development ministers also discussed the financing gap for the SDGs. India and France will be jointly taking up the progress related to SDGs and financing.

The minister said that many countries are facing problems because they are unable to access finance because of archaic rules that allow debt relief only for some countries.

For India, the G20 Development Ministers’ meeting in Varanasi was vital to discuss and finalise action-oriented points facing many low income countries, small islands and developing nations who have not been able to take up their challenges before the global fora because of the pandemic followed by the din of war in Europe. India has put forth a seven-year action plan to ensure that countries make progress on their sustainable developments goals.

TheG20 development ministers’ meeting also allowed New Delhi to talk about its development and empowerment initiatives like the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, Jal Jeevan Mission and its digital innovations among many others.

On the cultural front, India highlighted Varanasi – a living city, along with its high quotient of spirituality, culture and traditional craft. The Uttar Pradesh government put up an exhibition to showcase the wide variety of textiles and local handicrafts, for which many artisans and weavers had been invited to display their skills before the G20 delegates.