New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday said urged the Foreign Ministers of G20 to focus on what unites, not what divides.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that addressing the meeting of the foreign ministers of G20 in a video message, PM Modi said that the meeting was taking place in the land of Gandhi and the Buddha.
“I urge you to draw inspiration from India's civilisational ethos of focusing not on what divides us, but on what unites us all,” he said.
Underlining why India chose the theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ for its G20 Presidency, the PM said that it signals the need for unity of purpose as well as the unity of action.
Expressing the belief that this meeting would reflect the spirit of coming together for achieving common and concrete objectives, he said that multilateralism was in a state of crisis in the world today and pointed out the two main functions were meant to be served by the architecture of global governance created after the Second World War.
PM Modi said that firstly, it was to prevent future wars by balancing competing interests, and secondly, to foster international cooperation on issues of common interests.
Observing the financial crisis, climate change, pandemic, terrorism, and wars in the past few years, he noted the failure of global governance in both its mandates.
The PM said that the tragic consequences of this failure were being faced mostly by all the developing countries and the world was at risk of rescinding on sustainable development after years of progress.
He said that many developing countries were struggling with unsustainable debt while trying to ensure food and energy security for their people.
PM Modi also noted that it was developing countries that were most affected by global warming caused by rich countries.
“India's G20 Presidency has tried to give a voice to the Global South,” he said and pointed out that no group could claim global leadership without listening to those most affected by its decisions.
The PM underlined that this meeting was taking place at a time of deep global divisions and as foreign ministers it was only natural that the discussions were affected by the geo-political tensions of the day.
“We all have our positions and our perspectives on how these tensions should be resolved,” he said. “As the leading economies of the world, the responsibility towards those who are not in this room lies with us.”
PM Modi said that the world looks upon the G20 to ease the challenges of growth, development, economic resilience, disaster resilience, financial stability, transnational crime, corruption, terrorism, and food and energy security.
He said that G20 had the capacity to build consensus and deliver concrete results in all these areas and emphasised that resolutions for issues that could not be addressed together should not come in the way of those that could be resolved.
Throwing light on the thousands of lives lost in natural disasters and the disastrous pandemic that the world faced, the PM noted how global supply chains had broken down during times of stress and turmoil.
Observing that stable economies were suddenly overwhelmed by debt and financial crisis, he stressed the need to show resilience in societies, economies, healthcare systems, and in infrastructure.
“The G20 has a critical role to play in finding the right balance between growth and efficiency on one hand and resilience on the other,” PM Modi said.
He suggested that this balance could be achieved more easily by working together. Concluding the address, the PM expressed confidence in the collective wisdom and ability and hoped that today's meeting would turn out to be ambitious, inclusive, and action-oriented where resolutions are made while rising above differences.
