New Delhi: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today urged the G20 foreign ministers to acknowledge that multilateralism was in crisis.
“You are meeting at a time of deep global divisions. As Foreign Ministers, it is but natural that your discussions are affected by the geo-political tensions of the day,” Modi told the ministers and said India’s selection of the theme ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ for its G20 Presidency signals the need for unity of purpose and unity of action.
Modi noted that the architecture of global governance created after the Second World War was to serve two functions – to prevent future wars by balancing competing interests; and to foster international cooperation on issues of common interests.
“The experience of the last few years- financial crisis, climate change, pandemic, terrorism, and wars clearly shows that global governance has failed in both its mandates,” he averred and claimed that the “tragic” consequences of this failure are being faced most of all by the developing countries. “Many developing countries are struggling with unsustainable debt while trying to ensure food and energy security for their people. They are also the ones most affected by global warming caused by richer countries,” he said and mentioned that this is why India’s G20 Presidency has tried to give a voice to the Global South. “No group can claim global leadership without listening to those most affected by its decisions,” he said.
Modi pointed out that after years of progress, “we are at risk today of moving back on the Sustainable Development Goals. He reminded the G20 of its responsibility to ease the challenges of growth, development, economic resilience, disaster resilience, financial stability, transnational crime, corruption, terrorism, and food and energy security. “In all these areas, the G20 has the capacity to build consensus and deliver concrete results. We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can,” he said.
Stressing the need for resilience in “our societies, in our economies, in our healthcare systems, and in our infrastructure”, Modi said the G20 has a critical role to play in finding the right balance between growth and efficiency on one hand and resilience on the other.
“We can reach this balance more easily by working together…As you meet in the land of Gandhi and the Buddha, I pray that you will draw inspiration from India’s civilizational ethos – to focus not on what divides us, but on what unites us all,” he added.
– global bihari bureau
