On Friday, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra briefed some of the foreign envoys in New Delhi on 'Global South' and the Global South Summit. 

Kwatra, in his briefing, called for "unity of voice, unity of purpose."

He said that India had already chosen the path of "unity of voice, unity of purpose" with Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Group of 77 (G77). 

Talking about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, he said- Given the Russia-Ukraine war, India would like the voice of the Global South to be heard, he added.

The foreign secretary also stated that developing-country concerns about spiralling fuel prices, skyrocketing fertiliser and food prices must be addressed as the impact is felt the most in these countries.

Kwatra mentioned the lack of global consensus, as well as the poor management and ineffective coordination during Covid. He further emphasised the need for creating a resilient supply chain.

India is attempting to address structural changes through the voice of the Global South. Using the G20 as a catalyst, he proposed a more permanent structure in a number of areas, as such Development, Financing, Education, Energy.

The Global South is a term often used to identify regions within Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Most, though not all of these countries are low-income, often politically or culturally marginalized, and are on one side of the divide; while on other side is the Global North (the United States, Canada, all European countries, Russia, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand

While defining the thrust of India's G20 presidency, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has often talked about India serving as “the voice of the Global South.” Acting on this concept, the government took the decision to convene a virtual summit of developing countries on 12–13 January 2023 and christened it as the “Voice of the Global South Summit.” It was projected as the largest digital conference of the Leaders and Ministers of the developing world.

India’s goal was to consult developing countries not represented in G20, on their developmental priorities and what they expected India to achieve through its presidency. The idea was to ensure that developing countries feel better engaged with the G20 process and, in turn, G20 could produce better results to promote “human-centric-development.” No previous host of the G20 summit had conceived of calling such a conference before.

A total of 125 nations took part in the digital conference. The geographical breakup was: 29 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean, 47 countries from Africa, 7 countries from Europe, 31 countries from Asia, and 11 countries from Oceania. Of them, 11 countries participated at the Leaders’ level at the inaugural session and 7 countries took part in deliberations at the concluding session, both chaired by PM Narendra Modi.

Image source: India Today