India to host voice of global south summit, invites 120 nations

India has announced to host a special virtual Summit on January 12 and 13.

As part of its diplomatic narrative surrounding its year-long presidency of the G-20 grouping, India on Thursday announced that it would hold a virtual summit on the “voice of the global south” next week.

On Friday,  India’s  foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra announced that in a “new and unique” initiative, India will organise a virtual “Voice of Global South Summit” under the theme “Unity of Voice, Unity of Purpose”. The declared aim was for countries of the Global South to “share their perspectives and priorities on a common platform”.

“The initiative is inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas, and is underpinned by India’s philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” he added.

Kwatra noted that “more than 120 countries” have been invited to participate in the summit. However, he added that the high-level participation at the head of state or ministerial level would be from “10-20 countries”.

The foreign secretary noted that the summit would be “an opportunity for non-G20 members to share their perspectives which we could try to put forward in the deliberations in the G-20”. In answer to another query, Kwatra also said that this initiative should not be linked to the G-20.

Kwatra said that as the recent global developments like the COVID pandemic and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine have severely impacted the developing world across many domains; a consultative and outcome-oriented conversation focused on the most pressing concerns, interests and priorities of the developing countries was the need of the hour.

He said that the summit was India’s endeavor to provide a common platform to deliberate on the concerns of the developing nations.

The Indian Foreign Secretary added that India would work to ensure that the valuable inputs generated from partner countries in the Voice of Global South deliberations receive due cognizance globally.