Minister of External Affairs, India, HE. DR. Subrahmanyam Jaishanker, has stressed that the growth of the majority of the planet should not be traded against arguments but focused on the well being of the world.
He said for a long time, humans have experienced a very polarised divided world, which was focused towards a particular region. He said this during a Lecture and Interactive Session, themed Resetting the Global Agenda: The Role of India and the Global South, in Lagos. He lauded the efforts of G20, chaired by India in 2023, for its efforts to redirect global focus and bring back the attention of the world on issues of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), clean and green energy, human led development, digital and public infrastructure.
“The simple principle that must guide global beliefs, governance and organisations is a conviction that no one should be left alone.
“Because in a changing global order, we have seen the growth of continents, political and economic prevalence, which today is creating a world of multi-polar structure.
“Global Agenda is about restoring the world to its natural state, because the world is diverse. In the post colonial world today, restoring diversity is key,” he said. Jaishanker listed some of the challenges to Resetting the global agenda as dominance, globalisation and setting of narratives.
“Many of those who dominate the world in the last 200 years continue to do so with new instruments, regimes and techniques and how do we contend that and make sure the world is a fairer place?
“Globalisation today on a very specific sense is a combination of economics, interdependence of a shared common dependence of knowledge, of a degree of mobility that we have never experienced.
“This has led to a very deep economic concentrations with much of the world depending on some nations for production and supply,” he said. He opined that to achieve a global agenda, empathy, understanding and respectful should be key while recognising that every country has its sovereignty, culture and tradition and solutions must be found in a way in which they are not imposed, but are organically owned by the society to cultivate.
Jaishanker added that India’s relationship with Nigeria is characterised as strategic partnership, adding that the presence of India community of about 60 thousand people who serve in various ways and ensure that as political seasons come and go, the relations remain stable.
Director General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof Eghosa Osaghae said the lecture aimed to see how India as a great power could collaborate with other great powers like Nigeria on issues around recaliberating the global order, search for global justice and equity, democratisation of multi-lateral institutions and demand for permanent seat for global south in UN Security Council.
He said Nigeria-India relations is more historically embedded as India opened diplomatic ties with Nigeria at least two years before independence. He added that they have common interest with Nigeria and are a major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations.
“India has helped to build the military academies in Nigeria. The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) was midwifed by the Indian military,” he added.
