Indian PM Modi shares three demands of Global South at concluding session of meet

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (Nov 17) addressed the concluding session of the Voice of Global South Summit, which was held virtually.Modi said that two summits of the Global South being held in a year and the large participation sent out a big message to the world.

"The message is- Global South wants its autonomy, Global South wants its voice to be heard on Global Governance, Global South is ready to take big responsibility on global issues...India is proud that during an important forum like the G20, we got the opportunity to put the voice of the Global South on the agenda...," Modi added.

"We aim to enhance capacity building across sectors in the Global South. Apart from that, we also have shared interests as far as global peace is concerned," he further said.

This summit, which is the second, focused on sharing with countries of the Global South the key outcomes achieved in various G20 meetings throughout India's residence.

Here's a look at the top updates:

> Earlier on Friday, PM Modi addressed the inaugural session of the summit, where he 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 over 100 countries but our priorities are similar."

> During the session, the prime minister also said New Delhi believed that new technology should not widen the gap between the Global North and the Global South, adding that during the times of artificial intelligence (AI), it is important that technology should be used responsibly. "To further promote this, India will organise the Artificial Global Partnership Summit next month."

> The first Voice of Global South Summit was hosted by India in January. The summit has brought together countries from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania — collectively dubbed as Global South- to share their perspectives and priorities on a global platform. The theme for the first summit was “Unity of Voice, Unity of Purpose” and had a total of 10 sessions.

> According to India's foreign ministry, the second summit was also structured into 10 sessions, and an additional eight ministerial sessions.

> Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who addressed the summit on Friday, said that the Covid pandemic, the impact of climate change and raging geopolitical tensions disrupted and underscored the fragility of global supply chains.

> "These disruptions have created monumental challenges of food and energy security, cost of living and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals," Commerce Minister Goyal said.

> "With respect to the global South, the first need is to identify global value chains, where each of the countries could focus on not only increasing their participation but also improving the quality of their participation by moving up the value chain," he added.

> Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that New Delhi's G20 Presidency advocated for finding solutions from within the Global South. "Our G20 priorities will be shaped in consultation with not just G20 partners, but also our fellow travellers from the Global South, whose voice often goes unheard."

> Jaishankar pointed out that the New Delhi Leaders Declaration of the G20 Summit "will be remembered for bringing back the G20's focus on the real and serious concerns of the Global South.

> Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, meanwhile, said that the Centre's New Education Policy (2020) can act as a template for emerging economies towards developing comprehensive strategies for human resource development.

> "At the G2 Education Minister's meeting, India led the discussion of collaborative efforts to develop a resilient, equitable, inclusive and sustainable and skilling ecosystem," Pradhan said.