Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, where ever you are.
I am delighted to welcome you to this Session of the 3rd edition of the Voice of the Global South Summit. It is one dedicated to ‘Global South and Global Governance’. I offer some thoughts before inviting you all to set forth your views.
The overall context in which our discussion takes place is one of global challenges and risks, where the search for solutions is impeded by outdated thinking and vested interests. We can all see the problems, just as we can broadly figure out the answers. The real issue is that we don’t seem to be able to get there for a variety of reasons. Let me touch on four important subjects in that regard:
(i)Global institutions and governance architecture:
Colleagues, there is a crying need to reform multilateralism if we are to revive its credibility. No nation really differs with this assessment. But an inability to take that forward in respect of the United Nations is costing us more with each passing day.
(ii)Access to finance and technology:
These remain the keys to unlock the development potential of the Global South. We must encourage a more proactive and willing culture in that regard. India, for example, is sharing India Stack and Digital Public Infrastructure solutions, and undertaking development projects in almost 80 nations, many of them as grants. You will recall our contribution of vaccines to almost a 100 countries during the Covid-19 pandemic.
(iii)Need for collective initiatives:
If the world will not respond, then the Global South must devise its own initiatives. In recent years, we have seen International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, Global Biofuel Alliance, Mission LiFE or the International Big Cat Alliance. Amongst us in the Global South, there must be a greater willingness to act on issues of common interest.
(iv)Making inter-dependence a strength:
We have all experienced how our exposures and vulnerabilities are leveraged. At the same time, there has also been an increasing use of sanctions, especially financial. This will continue till we develop other options. For us in the Global South, the lesson is to intensify our own interactions. This means more trade, investments, collaboration, training, etc. Trade settlements in our own currencies and fintech solutions are also desirable.
So colleagues, these are some preliminary thoughts that I shared with you and I look forward to hearing from all of you.
