New Delhi:

India today held the third edition of the Voice of Global South Summit today, an event underpinned by India’s philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.

The summit is as an extension of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas aur Sabka Prayas’, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement earlier this week.

It envisages bringing together countries of the Global South to share their perspectives and priorities on a common platform across a whole range of issues.

The 3rd Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS) with the overarching theme of “An Empowered Global South for a Sustainable Future”, will act as a platform to expand discussions held in the previous Summits on a range of complex challenges that continue to affect the world, such as conflicts, food and energy security crises, climate change – all of which disproportionately affect developing countries in a severe manner, the MEA stated.

Yesterday, the Ministry of External Affairs in its weekly briefing stated that all countries from the Global South have been invited for the summit.

At the Summit, the countries of the Global South would continue deliberations on challenges, priorities, and solutions for the Global South, particularly in the developmental domain.

The 3rd VOGSS will be held in a virtual format and is structured into Leaders’ Session and Ministerial sessions.

The inaugural session at the Head of State/Government level will be hosted by Prime Minister Modi. The theme of the Leaders’ Session is the same as the overarching theme of the Summit, i.e., “An Empowered Global South for a Sustainable Future”.

In addition, there will be 10 Ministerial Sessions namely; Foreign Ministers’ Session on “Charting a Unique Paradigm for Global South”, Health Ministers’ Session on “One World-One Health”, Youth Ministers’ Session on “Youth Engagement for a Better Future”, Commerce/Trade Ministers’ Session on “Trade for Development- Perspectives from Global South”, Information & Technology Ministers’ Session on “DPIs for Development- A Global South Approach”, Finance Ministers’ Session on “People-Centric Approach to Global Finance”, 2nd Foreign Ministers’ Session on “Global South and Global Governance”, Energy Ministers’ Session on “Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Sustainable Future”, Education Ministers’ Session on “Prioritising Human Resource Development: A Global South Perspective”, Environment Ministers’ Session on “Pathways for Progress- A Global South Perspective on Mitigating Climate Change”

India hosted the 1st Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS) on January 12-13, 2023, and the second Voice of Global South Summit on November 17, 2023, both in virtual format.

Both the previous editions of the Summit saw the participation of over 100 countries from the Global South. The inputs and feedback received from the leaders of the developing countries in these two Summits were appropriately reflected in the agenda and discussions of the G-20 Summit under India’s Presidency last year, including in the G-20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Tokyo:

Highlighting India’s leadership among the Global South, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today said the 125 countries of the platform placed their trust in India and that China skipped the two meetings convened by India last year to listen to their concerns.

Addressing the Nikkei Forum on the India-Japan partnership in Tokyo, India’s top diplomat said that countries of the Global South feel for each other on a number of issues.

“On a lot of issues, these countries feel for each other. The feeling has been intensified by COVID because many countries of the Global South felt that they were the last in the line to get the vaccine. They even felt at the time when India became G20 President that their concerns were not even on the agenda of the G20,” he said.

“So we did last year two meetings of the voice of the Global South because we wanted to listen to these 125 countries and then put before the G20 a set of issues which were the collective views of these 125 countries,” he added.

“Within Asia and Africa, Global South is very popular in those continents. They know exactly what is happening, who’s speaking up for them, and how their issues are getting on the table,” he further stated.

“They don’t think it is a coincidence that it was under the Indian presidency that the African Union, which had long been promised a seat in the G20, got a seat. So the Global South believes us,” he said.

“The two summits which we convened last year to listen to their concerns, I don’t believe China was present,” Mr Jaishankar said, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping not attending the G20 summit and deputing Premier Li Qiang instead.

About India’s relationship with Russia and its criticism of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, he said: “Sometimes in world politics, countries pick one issue, one situation, one principle and they highlight it because it suits them. But if one looks at the principle itself, we in India know better than almost any other country.

“Immediately after our independence, we experienced aggression, an effort to change our boundaries and even today parts of India are occupied by another country but we did not see the world respond saying, oh, there’s a great principle involved and therefore, let us all go with India.”

“Today we are being told that there are principles involved. I wish I’d seen that principle in play for the last 80 years. I’ve seen those principles cherry-picked,” Mr Jaishankar said.

“I would say injustice was done to us. I’m not advocating it should be done to everybody else. We have been very clear. My Prime Minister has stood next to President Putin and said we want to see the end to this conflict,” he said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Tokyo:

Highlighting India’s leadership among the Global South, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today said the 125 countries of the platform placed their trust in India and that China skipped the two meetings convened by India last year to listen to their concerns.

Addressing the Nikkei Forum on the India-Japan partnership in Tokyo, India’s top diplomat said that countries of the Global South feel for each other on a number of issues.

“On a lot of issues, these countries feel for each other. The feeling has been intensified by COVID because many countries of the Global South felt that they were the last in the line to get the vaccine. They even felt at the time when India became G20 President that their concerns were not even on the agenda of the G20,” he said.

“So we did last year two meetings of the voice of the Global South because we wanted to listen to these 125 countries and then put before the G20 a set of issues which were the collective views of these 125 countries,” he added.

“Within Asia and Africa, Global South is very popular in those continents. They know exactly what is happening, who’s speaking up for them, and how their issues are getting on the table,” he further stated.

“They don’t think it is a coincidence that it was under the Indian presidency that the African Union, which had long been promised a seat in the G20, got a seat. So the Global South believes us,” he said.

“The two summits which we convened last year to listen to their concerns, I don’t believe China was present,” Mr Jaishankar said, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping not attending the G20 summit and deputing Premier Li Qiang instead.

About India’s relationship with Russia and its criticism of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, he said: “Sometimes in world politics, countries pick one issue, one situation, one principle and they highlight it because it suits them. But if one looks at the principle itself, we in India know better than almost any other country.

“Immediately after our independence, we experienced aggression, an effort to change our boundaries and even today parts of India are occupied by another country but we did not see the world respond saying, oh, there’s a great principle involved and therefore, let us all go with India.”

“Today we are being told that there are principles involved. I wish I’d seen that principle in play for the last 80 years. I’ve seen those principles cherry-picked,” Mr Jaishankar said.

“I would say injustice was done to us. I’m not advocating it should be done to everybody else. We have been very clear. My Prime Minister has stood next to President Putin and said we want to see the end to this conflict,” he said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)