|
EAM Flags Global South ‘Back Row’ in Global Decision-Making
The External Affairs Minister states that the Global South remains in the “back row” of global decision-making despite being in the “front row” of global crises. The remarks bring focus to the concept of the Global South, its concerns, and India’s engagement through specific platforms.
Global South:
| Dimension | Key Details |
|---|---|
| Concept | Refers broadly to developing, emerging, and underdeveloped nations. |
| Geographical coverage | Comprises nations across Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. |
| Shared experiences | Comprises experiences of colonisation, economic exploitation, and structural marginalisation. |
| Origin | Is coined by Carl Oglesby in the late 1960s and is popularised by the Brandt Line. |
| Key concerns | Comprises marginalisation in global decision-making, food and energy insecurity, climate finance and technology gaps, and trade barriers. |
| Significance for India | Comprises trade and investment ties with Africa and Latin American countries, access to critical minerals and petroleum, and coalition-building for reforms in the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank. |
| India as “Voice of Global South” | Is pursued through platforms including the Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS) and the International Solar Alliance (ISA). |
| Way forward themes | Comprises multilateral reform for fair representation and voting rights in institutions like IMF and UNSC, a Global Development Compact, South-South integration, climate finance linked with green technology transfer, and sharing digital public infrastructure and human-centric artificial intelligence. |