Minister Jaishankar calls for “re-globalization” at B20 summit

Speaking at the B20 Forum on Sunday, Jaishankar said this new globalization will depend on distributed manufacturing centers and resilient supply chains. India’s top diplomat said that the earlier version of globalization, which has taken place over the last 40 years, has concentrated economic power and production in certain countries.

“For a variety of reasons ranging from scale, subsidies, technology, human resources and strategic choices, the Global South has largely been reduced to a consumer rather than a producer. Their contribution often consisted of providing resources for production elsewhere,” said Jaishankar.

These countries have not benefited from economic growth and are increasingly burdened with debt, which has become a major crisis for developing countries after the shocks caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Jaishankar’s call for “re-globalization” entails a vision for a more democratic economic order, with multiple centers of production and not just consumption. This would also reduce volatility and improve the resilience of global supply chains.

He also spoke of India’s efforts to help the South in times of need. From vaccine supplies and development partnerships to capacity building, Jaishankar spoke at length about India’s support to developing countries. His comments were in line with New Delhi’s ambitions to establish itself as a leader of the developing world. In January this year, India hosted the Voices of the Global South summit.

“Today’s India is one where the world is simultaneously witnessing experimentation, scale-up, implementation, innovation and breakthroughs. The models in India not only solved many Indian problems, but also provided replicable models for the rest of the South,” he said during his remarks.

Updated: August 27, 2023, 2:05 PM IST