The G20’s primary goal is to advance economic growth and development, according to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and this goal cannot be achieved unless issues facing the Global South are addressed.
Addressing the B20 Summit India, 2023 in the national capital, Jaishankar said, “The core mandate of the G20 is to promote economic growth and development and that cannot be advanced unless the crucial concerns of the Global South are addressed.”
“Having said that, let me put some structural issues that have been at the heart of the predicament of Global South. Key among them are the concentration of various kinds, created by the last three to four decades of globalisation. For a variety of reasons that range from scale, subsidy, technology, human resources and strategic choices. The Global South was reduced to being a consumer rather than a producer. Their contribution very often was to provide resources, for manufacturing elsewhere. They not only did not reap the full benefits of economic change but often ended by being saddled with unviable emanating from opaque initiatives,” he added.
The official G20 forum for dialogue with the world’s business community is called the Business 20 (B20). “R.A.I.S.E: Responsible, Accelerated, Innovative, Sustainable, Equitable Businesses” is the summit’s theme for this year. Speaking at the summit, Jaishankar added that New Delhi was acutely aware that the majority of the Global South would not be present when the G20 meeting took place, but that “they mattered very much as they are one who faced the problems” when India assumed the G20 Presidency in December 2022. It seemed incredibly unfair to discuss issues of the Global South without giving them a fair hearing, he continued.