China Excluded From Voice of Global South Summit, Leaders Address Climate Change, UN Reforms

China was not invited to the Voice of Global South Summit, which saw participation from 123 countries. Several leaders expressed concerns about climate change, the challenges posed by new technologies, and the necessity for reforms in the United Nations.

During a press conference following the third Voice of Global South Summit, hosted by India and held virtually, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar responded to queries, noting that some countries highlighted the trend towards multipolarity and emphasised that this shift should be mirrored in the operations of the Global South.

“The first question, was China there? Answer is no. Underlying question, were they invited? Answer is no,” he said.

In response to a question, he explained that the Summit was primarily an effort to identify common positions, with the goal of fostering a sense of unity around a shared Compact.

“So I would say, I mean, clearly, in many ways, ideationally, there would be a carryover,” he said.

“On the Monkey-pox issue, no. There was no specific reference to anybody. I mean, there were references to health challenges which were not getting the priority kind of thing, but not specific in that sense. We weren’t looking so much at financial, I mean, this was not a visit where you do say, okay, I have a list of deliverables to put before the world. This was more like a gathering of people around a set of themes who are exchanging ideas, taking, you know, mulling that between them, taking it forward, exactly as we did last year. Now, eventually, as you saw last year, all of that in some form or the other impacted the G20,” he added.

He mentioned that many participants contributed ideas, shared them with one another, and partially responded to remarks made by others.

“And the idea was, when we do our gathering, we will take that from here and feed it into that. I think that would be a fair play,” he added.

The Global South Summit initiative was launched as an extension of Prime Minister Modi’s vision of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, aur Sabka Prayas,’ and is rooted in India’s philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

The initiative aims to bring together countries of the Global South to share their perspectives and priorities on a unified platform, addressing a wide range of issues.

India hosted the first Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS) on January 12-13, 2023, and the second Summit on November 17, both held in a virtual format.