Highlighting the complexities of the current geopolitical landscape, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the G20’s ability to harmonise viewpoints is key to advancing the global agenda.
Taking a subtle dig at China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said there must be no room for coercion and stressed that the global agenda cannot be narrowed down to the interests of a few. While addressing the first G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Johannesburg, Jaishankar stated that the member nations must also recognise that multilateralism itself lies deeply damaged and that the UN and its Security Council are often grid-locked.
At a foreign ministers’ meeting, held in the run-up to the G20 Summit in Johannesburg on November 22-23 this year, Jaishankar stated that international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982, must be respected.
Highlighting the complexities of the current geopolitical landscape, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the G20’s ability to harmonise viewpoints is key to advancing the global agenda.
Jaishankar is in Johannesburg on a two-day visit to South Africa to participate in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. Addressing the G20 session titled ‘Discussion on the Global Geopolitical Situation’, Jaishankar said the G20 is an important expression of the world’s growing multi-polarity.
“The global geopolitical situation remains difficult by any definition. Some of it is the accumulated challenges of the Covid pandemic, conflict situations, financial pressures, food security and climate concerns,” he said on Thursday.
But there are also the current anxieties about concentrated supply chains, weaponisation of trade and finance, and transparency of data flows, Jaishankar said.
“Looking ahead, differential progress on Artificial intelligence and Electric vehicles, space, drones or green hydrogen have clear geopolitical implications,” he said.
G20 captures the “diversity of our interests, cultures and outlook,” he said. “For this very reason, its ability to harmonise viewpoints is key to advancing the global agenda,” the minister said.
He said the “polarisation” of recent years has created visible stress and distorted priorities. “What we could do was, to somehow, find enough common ground to safeguard this institution.
Today, the imperative is to go beyond that,” Jaishankar said.
He also presented India’s position on West Asia, maritime security, Ukraine conflict, Indo-Pacific and UN reforms. He said India welcomes the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release, supports humanitarian assistance, condemns terrorism, and advocates a two-state solution.
