NEW DELHI: India stands ready to share its technical capabilities and knowledge resources for empowering the people of the Global South, said Secretary at the Department of Economic Affairs, Ajay Seth, participating on behalf of the country at the Finance Ministers’ Session of the 2nd Voice Of Global South Summit.
Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the secretary said India’s G20 priorities will be shaped in consultation not only with our G20 partners, but also with our fellow travellers in the Global South, whose voice often goes unheard. “As the Global South constitutes the largest group of nations, the decisions we make hold immense significance”, Seth said.
The African Union, a considerable chunk of the Global South, was given G20 membership during India’s G20 presidency. It provided a much-needed and long-overdue platform for the participation of the Global South in shaping global decisions. “I am glad this happened during the Indian presidency. With your continued support, we have amplified our voice, the Voice of the Global South”, Seth noted.
Later, in his remarks, Seth noted that under its G20 presidency, India strongly advocated strengthening Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to respond to the shared global challenges of the 21st century with the aim of securing continued and sustainable access to low-cost concessional finance for low-income and middle-income countries.
The triple agenda recommended in the Report of the G20 Independent Expert Group, constituted by the Indian presidency, he noted, called on MDBs to address global challenges along with their core mandates of eliminating poverty and fostering shared prosperity; tripling their sustainable lending level by 2030; and enhance their financial strength by continuing with the ongoing work of improving their capital adequacy frameworks.
“We cannot afford to let financing gaps translate into a sustainable development gap”, he added. The Indian G20 Presidency made concerted efforts to scale up sustainable finance. “The Voice of the Global South 2.0 brought together Finance Ministers and dignitaries from Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Madagascar, Moldova, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, Tanzania, and Uganda to deliberate under the theme of “Financing People-Centric Development”.
Participants from the Global South exchanged their views on a wide range of issues of global importance ranging from MDB reforms, resolving debt vulnerabilities, advancing financial inclusion and ways to scale up financing for accelerating progress on SDGs, among other issues.
Earlier on Friday, laying emphasis on the importance of the Global South, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it has always existed geographically, but it is getting the voice for the first time due to joint efforts.
While addressing the inaugural session of the 2nd Voice of Global South Summit, PM Modi said, “Geographically, the Global South has always existed, but it is getting a voice for the first time, and this is because of the joint efforts. We are more than 100 countries but our priorities are similar. “Last year, during the G20 Summit, our attempt was to focus on the development of the people, by the people and for the people…,” PM Modi said. (ANI)