India, at the Third South Summit in Kampala, Uganda, underscored the pivotal role of the Global South as the world’s “future growth engine,” and emphasised the need for South-South Cooperation to address contemporary challenges and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In the statement delivered by the Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, India highlighted the diversity and unity of the Group of 77 (G77), bringing together nations from diverse geographies, economies, and political systems. The Minister stressed that the Global South, with its youthful demography and rapidly growing economies, holds the key to the world’s future prosperity. “Across diverse geographies, economies, regions and political systems, the Group largely brings together the Global South to address the challenges of our times. The Global South today, having the youngest demography and some of the fastest growing economies is the future growth engine for the world,” he said.
Muraleedharan also said that the “third South Summit is being looked upon with a lot of expectations.” The way forward for us, as a Group, is to focus on the achievement of the SDGs, with highest priority accorded to the eradication of poverty, he said. The MoS MEA called for a collective reaffirmation of commitments and the pursuit of innovative solutions for financing development, reforming international financial structures, facilitating South-South cooperation, advancing science and technology collaboration, and ensuring environmental sustainability for current and future generations. To achieve these goals, Muraleedharan urged the Group to “rise beyond internal bickering and dragging in bilateral disputes into the G77.”
Importance of G77
Emphasising the need for the G77 to evolve and strengthen, he looked forward to operationalizing the “Open-ended Working Group” to enhance transparency and efficiency within the Group. The overarching theme of the Summit, “Leaving No One Behind,” aligns with India’s commitment to the ethos of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – the world is one family. “In this same spirit, as President Museveni highlighted yesterday, we are proud of the contributions that the Indian diaspora has been making to the economic growth and development of the countries where they live, including here in Uganda,” he said. India’s proactive role in amplifying the voices of the Global South was highlighted through the hosting of the “Voice of the Global South Summit” twice, said Muraleedharan, adding, over 120 countries participated, allowing India to articulate the concerns and priorities of the Global South in international forums, including the G20.
He said that India’s G20 Presidency outcomes, reflective of Global South priorities, addressed the “challenges related to sustainable development, financing for development, reform of the international financial architecture, addressing debt vulnerabilities or deploying Digital Public Infrastructure.” The statement also emphasised the “urgent need for comprehensive reforms of the UN Security Council to address its outdated structure.” “This includes adequately representing the Global South to ensure that diverse global perspectives are included at the highest levels of decision-making,” said Muraleedharan.
In his remarks, the MoS MEA also mentioned some of India’s initiatives towards capacity building and development of India’s partners from the Global South. “India shares its development experience with the Global South through the Indian Technical and Economic Co-operation (ITEC) Programme, which now extends to 160 partner countries. Every year, around 1,4000 scholarships are offered in 800 courses across 200 premier Indian Institutions,” he said. He highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching the “Global DPI Repository at the second Voice of the Global South Summit in November 2023 along with a social impact fund of USD 25 million to fast track the implementation of DPI in developing countries.”
In concluding remarks, Minister Muraleedharan reaffirmed India’s commitment, stating, “India will always stand with our friends and partners from the Global South, to work together towards building an inclusive growth story for our future generations.” Muraleedharan is on an official visit to the Ugandan capital from January 20-22 to participate in the Third South Summit of the Group of 77 and China (G-77), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. As per the official website of the Third South Summit, the Summit aims at boosting South-South cooperation, including in the areas of trade, investment, sustainable development, climate change, poverty eradication, and the digital economy.
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