Narendra Modi addressing the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting.
New Delhi: Urging the G20 member nations to acknowledge that multilateralism being in crisis today, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, on Thursday, said that the global architecture of governance which was created post-World War II has failed in its mandates of preventing future wars and fostering international cooperation on issues of common interests.
Delivering his opening remarks ahead of G20 foreign ministers meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre in the national capital, the prime minister said, “The architecture of global governance, created after the Second World War, was to serve two functions. First, to prevent future wars by balancing competing interests. Second, 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 said. Raising the plight of several developing countries, Modi said many countries are struggling with unsustainable debt, while trying to ensure food and energy security for their people.
On the issue of climate change, the prime minister also criticized the developed economies and said that the developing countries are also the ones most affected by global warming, which is caused by richer countries. “This is why India’s G20 presidency has tried to give a voice to the global south,” he said. “No group can claim global leadership without listening to those most affected by its decisions,” the prime minister added.
Russia-Ukraine conflict
Without taking countries name, the prime minister said that the foreign ministers are meeting at a time of deep global divisions.
“As foreign ministers, it is but natural that your discussions are affected by the geopolitical tensions of the day. … We all have our positions and our perspectives on how these tensions should be resolved,” Modi said. “However, as the leading economies of the world, we also have a responsibility towards those who are not in this room,” he added.
Modi also said the world looks upon the G20 to ease the challenges of growth, development, economic resilience, disaster resilience, financial stability, transnational crime, corruption, terrorism, and food and energy security. He stressed that in these arears, the G20 has 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,” Modi exhorted.
“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.”
