India will host a new virtual summit next week to bring countries of the global south together, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra announced on Friday, January 6, on behalf of the Ministry of External Affairs. The Voice of Global South Summit will take place virtually on January 12-13, 2023, under the theme — Unity of Voice, Unity of Purpose. The summit hopes to bring together countries of the global south and share their perspectives and priorities on a common platform, the ministry shared during a special briefing.
More than 120 countries of the global south are invited, the ministry said. It did not provide a list of heads of states or confirm which countries will be attending the briefing.
At the conclusion of the summit, the government proposes to release a joint declaration as a summary of their discussions.
Given the ongoing Indian presidency of the G20, one of the sessions will focus on the theme of G20 suggestions for India's presidency, Kwatra said.
"We would like to hear from countries that are not members of the G20 to share with us as to what they think in their scheme of things could be included in the discourse within the framework of the G20," he added.
The programme is still in a planning phase and is still evolving, Kwatra said. It will include 10 sessions over a period of two days. Two sessions will be at the head of state level, hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while the other eight will be conducted at a ministerial level, he said. Around 10-20 countries will participate in each session.
The inaugural session with global leaders will focus on human-centric development. There will also be a finance ministers’ session, which will have discussions revolving around financing people-centric development. The summit will also host environment, foreign, health, education, commerce and energy ministers’ sessions.
Struck by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, countries and their economies have suffered increasing burdens such as food insecurity, fuel shortages, inflation and climate change. As a champion of the developing world and the president of the G20, India hopes to bring these problems to the global stage to support its neighboring nations, the foreign secretary said.
"The Voice of Global South Summit is India's endeavour to provide a common platform to deliberate on these concerns, interests and priorities that affect the developing countries," Kwatra said. "India will work to ensure that the valuable inputs generated from partnered countries in the Voice of Global South Summit deliberations receive due cognisance globally."
India will not only consult and cooperate with its G20 partners in its external affairs but also listen to its partners in the global south whose voice often goes unheard, Prime Minister Modi had said in December 2022 when India was assumed the presidency.This summit will, thus, especially be an opportunity for countries that are not a part of the G20 to share their ideas and expectations with the forum indirectly. The summit is inspired by Modi's ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayaas,’ initiative and is underpinned by India's philosophy of ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam,’ Kwatra said.
