‘World makes business decisions factoring national security’: EAM Jaishankar on weaponsation of ‘global goods’

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar highlighted the changing landscape of business, as increasingly people are factoring in national security as being more important than before, especially in the digital age. These changes, the minister argues do not mean making alternative systems of telecom and other technologies, but rather ally with others who share the same goals as India.

“There are different ways of dealing with weaponisation, one is to stay at the right side of the weapon so you know, you don’t get hit, others do. But here’s the reality, the world today makes business decisions factoring in national security in a manner in which it did not do so before, especially in the digital era,” Jaishankar said while addressing the Raisina Dialogue being held in New Delhi.

The remarks were made by him at the third day of the Dialogue, at the “Commisars and Capitalists: Politics, Business and New World Order”
Jaishankar talked about the compulsion of the likeliness of building alternative systems for ‘global goods’ such as telecom, international courier and others, referring to such compulsion as an “aberration” rather than a desire to replace a system.

“Sometimes you can be put in a situation where we say, let me devise something alternative because that is a compulsion of the day, but I would argue that’s an aberration rather than some kind of strategic desire to replace a particular system. If we can make the current system work for us, it is the smarter thing to do,” he said.

Identifying that partnering in telecom sector is more about comfort rather than just about cost, he added, “Two of them here (referring to other members of the panel), in fact, all of them here in some way, are deeply involved in that. In the digital era I think it’s not just about cost, it is about comfort. It is about trust. So if you are today looking at the serious, at a strategic level, the business conversations you keep hearing resilience, reliability, trust, transparency, so you want to do business more and more with those with whom you are secure.”

His remarks come amidst the announcement Billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink internet satellite to be introduced in India soon. The deal was announced recently, with Starlink partnering with Jio and Bharati Airtel.

“Every partner offers some risks, yes, but you would rather take the risks with those where your interests are not contradictory than the risks are not that great rather than those with whom your interest could clash or do clash,” Jaishankar said.

India is also currently discussing trade relations with their biggest partners, namely United States, United Kingdom and the European Union.

“I would argue today that countries in a way need a kind of a macro business strategy and certainly to when you look at India, when we look at the world today, we are involved right now in 3 big trade negotiations with the EU, with the UK and now with the United States, these are our growth markets, these are our technology partners,” he said. (ANI)