Chair’s Summary: 3rd Voice of Global South Summit (August 17, 2024)

India hosted the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit on 17 August 2024, in virtual format, with the overarching theme, "An Empowered Global South for a Sustainable Future”. Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Summit and hosted the Inaugural Leaders’ Session. The Inaugural Session was followed by 10 Ministerial sessions, which included two Foreign Ministers’ Sessions, and one Session each hosted by the Health, Finance, Energy, Education, Commerce, IT, Youth, Education and Environment Ministries. The Summit witnessed the participation of 173 dignitaries from 123 countries from across the Global South, including 21 HOS/G, 34 Foreign Ministers and 118 Ministers and Vice Ministers.,

2. The Voice of Global South Summit is an extension to the international arena of India’s philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, or "One Earth, One Family, One Future”, and Prime Minister’s vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas.

3. This Summit was the first plurilateral Summit hosted by the Prime Minister since the formation of the new Government on 9 June 2024. Having been held within the first 100 days of the new Government, the Summit is a reflection of India’s sincerity and commitment in advancing the collective developmental journey of the Global South, and the priority accorded by the Prime Minister to engaging with the leaders and countries of the Global South.

4. The Summit represented a continuity in the Global South’s focus on strengthening collective efforts in addressing the challenges it faced in the current international environment. It also served as a platform to discuss ideas and solutions from the Global South on various developmental priorities, including those relating to development finance, health, climate change, technology, governance, energy, trade, youth empowerment, digital transformation, women-led development, capacity building, and human-centric sustainable development.

5. In the Inaugural Leaders’ Session, leaders appreciated Prime Minister’s initiative in hosting the third edition of the Summit. They particularly noted how India’s democratic resilience, its contemporary rise and development, and its commitment towards the collective upliftment of humanity were greatly inspirational for countries of the Global South. They also highlighted the need for developing countries to continue to engage with each other, and for strengthening South-South Cooperation. Leaders also conveyed their appreciation for the development projects being undertaken by India in their respective countries.

6. In his remarks during the Inaugural Session, Prime Minister noted that the Summit was being held at a time of great uncertainty, with the world facing the knock-on effects of COVID-19, armed conflicts, and the challenges of climate change and food and energy insecurities. Prime Minister also highlighted the continued threats posed by terrorism, extremism and separatism to our societies, the emergence of new technology-related social and economic challenges, and the failure of global governance and financial institutions set up in the last century to respond to the challenges of the 21st century. He emphasised that it was the need of the hour for countries of the Global South to be united & speak in one voice and become each other's strength in articulating their developmental concerns and priorities. Prime Minister also reiterated India’s commitment to share its experiences and capabilities with partner countries of the Global South.

7. Driven by a shared vision of a Global South that fully achieves the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and embarks on a rapid developmental trajectory beyond 2030, Prime Minister also put forward a proposal for a comprehensive four-fold Global Development Compact comprising four elements:

· Trade for development;
· Capacity building for sustainable growth;
· Technology sharing; and,
· Project specific concessional finance and grants.

8. The Prime Minister also announced a number of significant initiatives by India in advancing its development partnership with countries of the Global South, including a USD 2.5 million fund to boost trade promotion activities, as well as a USD 1 million fund for capacity building in trade policy and trade negotiation. India will work to make affordable and effective generic medicines available to the Global South countries, support training of drug regulators, and share experiences and technology in 'natural farming' in the agriculture sector. It was noted that India is contributing to the SDG Stimulus Leaders’ Group for financial stress and development funding in countries of the Global South.

9. In this context, Prime Minister also emphasized that solutions to tensions and conflicts depend on just and inclusive global governance, reform of global institutions whose priorities give preference to addressing the concerns of the Global South, with developed countries also fulfilling their responsibilities and commitments. He noted that the Summit of the Future at the UN next month could be an important milestone in this regard.

10. In the 1st Foreign Ministers’ Session, External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar highlighted four themes central to the achievement of SDGs and achieving global progress, viz., strengthening economic resilience, facilitating energy transition to mitigate climate change, revitalizing multilateralism and democratizing digital transformations. In the 2nd Foreign Ministers’ Session where the focus was on Global Governance Reforms, he put forth four propositions for consideration of the participating Foreign Ministers - first, the need to reform multilateralism to revive credibility of UN and its institutions, second, the necessity to ensure access to development finance and technology, third, the need for Global South to devise its own initiatives if the world does not respond, and fourth, for the Global South to intensify its interactions and intra-Global South cooperation, and make interdependence a strength.

11. Ministers participating in the Foreign Ministers’ sessions highlighted their nations’ concerns about climate change, debt distress and slow credit growth, and the need to uphold a rules-based order, sovereignty, equality, and mutual respect. Ministers identified various inadequacies of the current institutions of global governance in their response to the priorities and contemporary challenges faced by the Global South. Several of them agreed that geopolitical tensions and fragmentation had exacerbated the developmental challenges across the world, exerting disproportionate impact on developing countries. They acknowledged the need for a unique development paradigm that prioritises resilience, stability and growth. Ministers also raised the need to bridge the digital divide, support the development of disaster-resilient infrastructure, and build an inclusive, equitable, representative international order.

12. In the Finance Ministers’ Session, Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman advocated for an enhanced role of Global South in shaping our collective future, and promoting people-centric approaches. She also conveyed India’s commitment to supporting financial inclusion in the Global South, including through provisioning of concessional finance, and fostering greater South-South cooperation. The importance of development finance that results in achievement of the SDGs was emphasized. The discussion also focused on tackling the high cost of debt and rising risks of debt distress, scaling up affordable long-term financing, especially through Multilateral Development Banks, and expanding contingency financing to countries facing liquidity constraints.

13. In the Health Ministers’ Session, Minister of Health & Family Welfare Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda put forward the shared vision of One World-One Health, as a way to strengthen the global health architecture with an aim to make it more inclusive and effective. Ministers in the session appreciated the role played by India in advancing global health security, and deliberated on mechanisms to increase accessibility and efficacy of healthcare systems, including by integration of digital public infrastructure with health systems, strengthening initiatives aimed at enhancing food security, and moving towards holistic well-being, including with the help of indigenous health systems and traditional medicines, as well as ways to deal with universal health coverage challenges.

14. In the Education Ministers’ Session, Minister of Education Shri Dharmendra Pradhan hosted a discussion on creating the human resources which would aid in accelerating the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, promoting women-led development, enabling greater inclusion of women in all elements of society, and helping achieve demographic dividends. Ministers also exchanged views on making education systems future-ready, tackling challenges pertaining to human resource development that are specific to Global South, and fostering greater academic collaboration among the Global South countries. They shared ideas on devising strategies for the seamless integration of education, emerging technologies and skill development.

15. In the Youth Ministers’ Session, Vice-Minister in the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports Smt. Meeta Rajivlochan emphasized India’s commitment to empowering youth as active drivers of development, and the need to harness their potential for societal advancement. Participants in the Session underscored the need for quality education, vocational training & skill development, digital inclusion, developing technology and knowledge hubs, as well as leveraging digital public infrastructure to connect youth with opportunities. Encouraging a start-up culture in the Global South through enabling policies and a supportive environment in colleges and beyond was also highlighted by participating Ministers as part of a broader strategy to overcome employment challenges in the Global South. The participants also highlighted the need for greater youth exchange and youth networks among countries of the Global South. Importance of preserving culture & traditions, need to combat terrorism, violent extremism and the menace of drug abuse were also highlighted.

16. In the Trade Ministers’ Session, Vice Minister in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Shri Sunil Barthwal focused on issues pertaining to inclusive trade practices, resilient supply chains, technology transfer, and efficient connectivity. Participants agreed that meeting their sustainable development goals required enhanced access to information, markets and finance as well as capacity building, affordable digital solutions and non-discriminatory trade facilitation, as well as prevention of over-concentration of supply chains. The need for the developing countries to become part of global value chains, ensure support to MSME sectors in respective countries, as well as ensuring food security and enhancing trade facilitation were deliberated upon.

17. In the Information & Technology Ministers’ Session, Vice-Minister in the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Shri S Krishnan shared use-case examples of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) models in bringing about efficiencies and better governance, achieving SDGs and ensuring last-mile delivery. Participants agreed on the need to enhance interoperability among global DPI models, encourage sharing of best-practices, build trust among diverse stakeholders in the digital ecosystem, and encourage private and public innovation and competition to provide viable DPI options to Global South countries. Participants also discussed the transformative potential of DPIs, coupled with responsible and accessible Artificial Intelligence tools, in enhancing service delivery, increasing production efficiencies and accelerating economic growth in countries of the Global South.

18. In the Environment Minsters’ Session, Vice Minister in the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Smt. Leena Nandan hosted a discussion on Global South’s perspective on mitigating climate change. Deliberations highlighted the call for climate justice and developing countries’ demand for climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building. The participants also reaffirmed the principles of equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC). They also discussed the urgency of building resilience to climate change impacts in developing countries, in particular the Small Island Developing States. The importance of circular economy and sustainable patterns of production and consumption was discussed in the context of ensuring a sustainable future. People-driven approaches and movements such as Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) for sustainable living were emphasized upon.

19. In the Energy Ministers’ Session, Vice Minister in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Pankaj Jain reviewed the status of global energy markets, their volatility and challenges as well as the steps needed for accelerating the adoption of clean energy technology by developing countries. Participants shared updates on advancements in new and alternate energy sources in their respective countries, including biofuels and identified the challenges related to ensuring energy security, accessibility and affordability. They agreed that it was crucial to share best practices and ideas among partner countries of Global South for achieving a just and orderly energy transition. Countries emphasised that the role of traditional hydrocarbons in the energy mix will continue in the foreseeable future. However, they would make efforts to achieve their climate change mitigation goals by developing alternate sources of energy simultaneously for which sustainable financing is necessary.

20. Overall, with the participation of countries representing over 60% of the world’s population, the Summit reinforced the centrality of the Global South in our collective pursuit of a future that is inclusive for all. While calling global attention to the urgent interventions required for the achievement of SDGs by 2030, Leaders and Ministers deliberated on ways to strengthen development and economic cooperation among the countries of the Global South, and to meet socio-economic challenges beyond 2030. They also expressed confidence that the ideas and best practices shared among participating countries would lead to more fruitful deliberations at the upcoming Summit of the Future, greater empowerment of the Global South, and a sustainable future for the world.