Dominant resisting change, says EAM; warns of double standards

External affairs minister S Jaishankar has said that India's challenge and success was getting the G20 to talk about what the world wanted to talk about and steering the global conversation back to global growth and development issues affecting the global south that had got drowned due to the pandemic and the war.

- Prashant Jha

But he also warned that while the global south embodies this political pressure for change, there is political resistance with the dominant actors weaponising institutional and economic capabilities and espousing "double standards". And it wasn't just those countries in the global north but others who may not think of themselves as the north which were resisting change, he said.

Speaking at a ministeri panel on the theme of "South Rising: partnerships, institutions and ideas" in New York on Friday evening, asked about his assessment on how India is being viewed after meeting close to 20 counterparts in 36 hours in the city where the world has congregated for UN General Assembly high-level week, Jaishankar said that on Indian presidency of G20, there were two responses.

Some remained surprised that a declaration happened and were curious about how it happened; many others, including fellow countries of the global south, were appreciative that India got the G20 to get back to the job for which it was created - "global growth and development".