Amid Canada’s allegations against India based on American intelligence reports, External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar criticised the Global North on Saturday (23 September) and accused them of exercising “double standards”. He asserted that it is still a world of “double standards” and those countries that are occupying positions of influence have been resisting the pressure to change. He further added that those countries who have institutional or historical influence have actually weaponised a lot of those capabilities.
Notably, he took a dig at Global North while speaking at a Ministerial Session titled ‘South Rising: Partnerships, Institutions, and Ideas’. The event was hosted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), in partnership with the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, United Nations India, and the Reliance Foundation.
In New York, Jaishankar said, “I think more than political will, there is political pressure for change.” He added that there is a growing sentiment in the world and the Global South in a way embodies it. He, however, highlighted that there is political resistance to this growing sentiment.
He said, “Those who are occupying positions of influence, we see this in the UN Security Council most of all, are resisting the pressure to change. Those who are economically dominant today are leveraging their production capabilities and those who have institutional influence or historical influence have actually weaponised a lot of those capabilities as well.”
Citing the example of COVID-19, he added, “They will all mouth the right things, but the reality is still today, it’s a world very much of double standards.”
The Minister noted that the Global North includes nations or territories that are very resistant to change. Regarding the reform in the international system, he said, “But I think this whole transition will really be, in a sense, the Global South putting more and more pressure on the international system. And, the Global North is not just the North. There are parts which may not think of themselves in the North, but are very resistant to change.”
Speaking at the event, Jaishankar talked about cultural rebalancing and explained that it means recognising and respecting the diversity of the world and giving due respect to other cultures and traditions. He added that respecting others’ heritage, tradition, music, literature, and ways of life, is all part of the change that the Global South would like to see.
Citing the example of millets, he referred to the G20 Summit in Delhi which was held earlier this month, and noted that the Global South historically ate less wheat and more millets.
He emphasised, “In the name of the market, a lot of things are done, like in the name of freedom, a lot of things are done.”
Meanwhile, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, Reliance Foundation CEO Jagannatha Kumar, and ORF president Samir Saran among others also addressed the event.
While, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, Joao Gomes Cravinho, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica, Kamina Johnson Smith participated in the panel discussion at the event.
Highlighting that India’s G20 Presidency still has a couple of months remaining before Brazil assumes the presidency in December 2023, he said, “We hopefully get something moving on the reform of international financial institutions”.
Responding to ORF President Saran, Jaishankar denied the assertion that he is tough on Europe for making the remark that “Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems”.
He categorically highlighted that the main issues that were troubling the entire world were debt, SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) resourcing, climate action resourcing, digital access, nutrition, and gender.
He added that partly because of Covid-19 and partly due to the focus on Ukraine, these subjects were driven out of the global conversations.
He noted that to get actually the G20 to talk about what the world wanted it to talk about — that was a real problem in the G20.
Explaining the reason why India held the Voice of Global South Summit 2023, he asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was right when he said, “First let’s talk to the people who are not going to be on the table, let’s find out what they have to say.”
He highlighted that hosting the Voice of Global South Summit gave India the credentials, actually the empirical basis really to say that we have spoken to 125 countries and this is really what is troubling them and that is why we need to focus on these issues.
