Rio de Janeiro/New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the G20 summit that countries of the Global South are the most adversely impacted by the food, fuel and fertilizer crisis caused by global conflicts.
In his address to the opening session of the G20 Summit today on ‘Social Inclusion and the Fight against Hunger and Poverty’, the PM said their deliberations “can only be successful when we keep in mind the challenges and priorities of the Global South”.
“And just as we amplified the voice of the Global South by granting permanent membership of G20 to the African Union during the New Delhi Summit, we will reform institutions of global governance,” he added.
Earlier, in his address, PM Modi thanked the President of Brazil Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva for hosting the Summit and for his hospitality.
He appreciated the Brazilian G20 agenda focused on Sustainable Development Goals, noting that this approach highlighted the concerns of the Global South and took forward the people-centric decisions of the New Delhi G20 Summit.
He further underscored that the Indian G20 presidency’s call for “One Earth, One Family, One Future” continued to resonate in the Rio conversations.
Speaking about India’s initiatives to deal with hunger and poverty, Prime Minister noted that India had pulled 250 million people out of poverty in the last ten years and was distributing free foodgrains to 800 million people in the country. Speaking about India’s success in tackling food security, PM emphasized that its approach based on ‘Back to Basics and March to Future’ was yielding results.
“We have focused not only on natural farming and organic farming but also on new technologies. We have focused on sustainable agriculture, protection of the environment, nutrition and food security by promoting Sri Ann or millets. We have developed over 2000 climate resilient crop varieties and have started the ‘Digital Agriculture Mission’,” the PM said.
Talking about India’s Digital leap, he said India’s development of digital public Infrastructure had enabled social and financial inclusion.
“With the Aspirational Districts and Blocks project we created a new model for inclusive development that strengthens the weakest link,” he added.
He also elaborated on measures taken by India to foster women-led development.
Prime Minister Modi also highlighted the steps taken by India to strengthen food security in Africa and elsewhere. In this regard, he welcomed the Brazilian initiative to establish a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.
UNI
