India-China dialogue is as important as the US-China dialogue

Economist Jeffrey D. Sachs is one of the most influential voices that predict the end of American hegemony and a unipolar world. A global expert in sustainable development, he is an unabashed critic of the apathy of rich countries, especially the US, in financing solutions for issues like poverty and climate change.

- NIRMAL JOVIAL

Sachs, who has worked as an adviser to presidents of the USSR, Russia and Ukraine in the 1990s and 2000s, is highly critical of the US and NATO positions in the Russia-Ukraine war. In an exclusive interview, he talks about why India and China should come together for a “transformation from a west-led world to a world-led world”. Excerpts:

Q/ Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that India’s G20 presidency gives voice to the global south. Do you think that this meeting will give more attention to the issues faced by the poor and less developed countries?

A/ The whole idea of the G20 is to expand beyond clubs of rich countries like the G7 to a true global society and true global dialogue, and the G20 process began in one form more than 20 years ago. I was one of the early proponents of ‘let’s make sure we have all countries at the table’. So, in the early days, the G7 dominated the process, but the world is changing very fast to a multipolar world in which it is no longer the case that the US and a few other countries dominate the world policy debate or world economy. We are now in a multipolar world and we have four G20s in a row led by important emerging economies: Indonesia, India, Brazil and South Africa. We need these G20s, and I think India’s [presidency] will be especially important, to make the institutional breakthroughs in global financial architecture and governance architecture. To turn this changing reality into changing way of global shared responsibilities. So, I’m here because of how important it is that India is president of the G20, and proposing exactly this rebalancing of the international governance system.