G20 presidency was challenging...: EAM S Jaishankar on east-west polarisation

Highlighting various aspects of India's G20 presidency, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that it was a challenging Summit as well as a challenging presidency because we were confronting a very sharp East-West polarisation and a very deep North-South divide.

Addressing the ‘India-UN for Global South: Delivering for Development’ event in New York, the External Affairs Minister said, “We meet just a few weeks after the New Delhi G20 Summit. A Summit which took place on the theme of One Earth, One Family, One World. It was a challenging Summit, it was a challenging presidency because we were confronting a very sharp East-West polarisation and a very deep North-South divide. But we were very determined as the presidency of the G20 to make sure that this organisation was able to get back to its core agenda which was of global growth and development.”

"We know that there may be aspects of it which you may find useful from, as Ambassador Kamboj mentioned, that we are today active in almost 80 countries around the world. And what I can say is that when it has come to South-South cooperation, we have endeavoured to walk the talk,” Jaishankar said at the UN event.

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EAM also noted that contemporary geopolitical considerations and rivalries are influencing fundamental needs in many countries, such as their ability to access affordable food, fertilizers, and energy.

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"With each passing day, in fact, it has become clearer to us that today geopolitical calculations and geopolitical contests are impacting very basic requirements of many countries, including their affordable access to food, to fertilizers and to energy," Jaishankar said.

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"It was therefore, for us a particularly onerous responsibility to make sure that in collaboration with all our G20 members, we were able to refocus the G20 on the urgent depressing needs of the Global South and this was reflected in my mind in eight key outcomes of the New Delhi G20 Summit - the action plan for sustainable Development Goals, the reform of international financial institutions, a Green development Pact, the high principles for Life the Lifestyle for Environment Initiative, an understanding on debt management, a consensus on woman-led development, an acceptance of digital public infrastructure and an agreement to undertake global skills mapping," he added.

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External Affairs Minister Jaishankar is currently in New York to lead the Indian delegation for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session. As per an official statement from the Ministry of External Affairs, he is scheduled to deliver a speech at the UNGA on September 26.

On the preceding Friday, the External Affairs Minister had a packed and fruitful day of interactions with foreign counterparts from various nations on the sidelines of the 78th UNGA session in New York.

(With inputs from ANI)