New Delhi Declaration Will Be About Global South, Says India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant

India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that the New Delhi Declaration will be about the Global South.

India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant during the G20 curtain raiser press conference, in New Delhi, Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.

Source : PTI

India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that the Joint Declaration of Nations at the mega global event, or the New Delhi Declaration, will focus on the Global South. "We have started our presidency by leading the voices of the Global South. We got the perspective of 125 leaders and remained focussed on the Global South and the requirements of the developing nations. The New Delhi Declaration after the Summit will be a voice of the Global South and the developing countries."

"When India took over the G20 presidency in Bali, we were in the midst of a scenario of slowing growth and productivity worldwide. India felt that we should start our presidency with the theme of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (the world is one family). PM Modi said India's presidency should be inclusive, decisive, ambitious and action-oriented," Kant said.

"Our presidency has been inclusive, decisive, and action-oriented," he said. According to Kant the New Delhi Declaration is ready and will be recommended to the G20 leaders. "We'll be able to talk about the declaration further after it is accepted and signed by them," he said. 

Kant said that there is no other document in the world that would have such a strong voice for the developing countries as the New Delhi Declaration. He said that India aimed for an inclusive G20 presidency. "India is trying to build a huge India narrative through this G20 Summit," he said. Highlighting India's transformation, Kant said: "In other countries, G20 events are held in the capitals. But In India, the events were held across 60 cities." He said that India pushed the policy of 'one district, one product', which had a huge impact on the lives of artisans.

Echoing him, G20 Chief Coordinator Harsh Vardhan Shringla said: "In keeping with the PM's vision of a pan-Indian G 20, we have hosted at least one G 20 meeting in every state and UT of India. To my mind, that is the finest example of cooperative federalism that we can seek."

Speaking on the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kant said: "China is a multilateral player. In multilateral discussions, the issues are very different from bilateral issues and the Chinese discuss issues of growth, and development from their perspective. The challenge of any multilateral discussion is you have to bring consensus across every issue as every country has veto power. We've been able to work with every single country and bring them on board."