When Global Order Faced “Critical Challenges”, Solutions…: S Jaishankar

India on Saturday once again strongly pitched for reforms of key multilateral institutions, saying it is an “undeniable” fact that when the global order faced “critical challenges”, solutions did not emerge from them.

In his address at the third India-hosted virtual Voice of the Global South Summit, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also called for facilitating low-cost financing and critical technologies to developing countries.

“It is an undeniable fact that even as the global order faced critical challenges, solutions did not emerge from the multilateral domain,” he said, calling for revitalising multilateralism.

“The reason is both the obsolescence and the polarisation of multilateral organisations,” he said, speaking at the foreign ministers’ session of the summit.

“Here too, India has argued for reformed multilateralism and sought reforms of Multilateral Development Banks through the G20. As a group, we need to press home our case,” Mr Jaishankar said.

India has been consistently pressing for reforms of multilateral institutions, including the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, arguing that they must reflect the realities of the current world.

The external affairs minister put across his views in four specific areas of strengthening economic resilience, climate change and energy transitions, revitalising multilateralism and democratising digital transformations.

On economic resilience, he said the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts and climate events have driven home the necessity for reliable and resilient supply chains.

“Not just that, there is also an acute need to diversify production itself in various domains to de-risk the international economy,” he said.

“What we earlier argued for in terms of socio-economic justice is today an equally compelling logic for the entire world in terms of predictability,” he noted.

Delving into climate change, Mr Jaishankar said its risks, the cost of transition pathways and accessibility to resources are the three big issues.

“During our G20 presidency, we strove to highlight ‘just energy’ transitions. We must work together as a family towards facilitating the flow of low-cost financing and critical technologies to the Global South,” he said.

Mr Jaishankar also underlined the importance of the digital public infrastructure.

“The digital public infrastructure has been a key driver of the transformation currently underway in our country. Some of our experiences will be of interest to Global South partners,” he said.

“They could also benefit from intra-South digital exchanges and cooperation,” he added.

Mr Jaishankar also talked about the impact of various conflicts and geopolitical tensions on the Global South.

“This gathering takes place as the world grapples with multiple conflicts, tensions and stresses. We, the nations of the Global South, are particularly impacted,” he said.

“The purpose of this exchange of views is to define our interests through that process. Hence, the theme of this session — Charting a Unique Paradigm for the Global South,” he said.