PM, Narendra Modi addressed the meeting of the Foreign Minister of G20 via video message today.
India chose the theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ for its G20 Presidency. He explained that it signals the need for unity of purpose as well as the unity of action. He expressed the belief that today’s meeting will reflect the spirit of coming together for achieving common and concrete objectives said PM.

The Prime Minister pointed out the two main functions that were meant to be served by the architecture of global governance created after the Second World War. He explained that firstly, it was to prevent future wars by balancing competing interests, and secondly, to foster international cooperation on issues of common interests. Observing the financial crisis, climate change, pandemic, terrorism, and wars in the past few years, PM noted the failure of global governance in both its mandates. He further added that the tragic consequences of this failure are being faced mostly by all the developing countries and the world is at risk of rescinding on Sustainable Development after years of progress. PM also noted that many developing countries are struggling with unsustainable debt while trying to ensure food and energy security for their people. He also noted that it is developing countries that are most affected by global warming caused by rich countries. “India’s G20 Presidency has tried to give a voice to the Global South”, PM remarked as he pointed out that no group can claim global leadership without listening to those most affected by its decisions.

PM underlined that today’s meeting is taking place at a time of deep global divisions and as Foreign Ministers, it is only natural that the discussions are affected by the geo-political tensions of the day. “We all have our positions and our perspectives on how these tensions should be resolved”, PM said. He emphasized that as the leading economies of the world, the responsibility towards those who are not in this room lies with us. “The world looks upon the G20 to ease the challenges of growth, development, economic resilience, disaster resilience, financial stability, transnational crime, corruption, terrorism, and food and energy security”, PM remarked as he noted that G20 has the capacity to build consensus and deliver concrete results in all these areas. He emphasized that resolutions for issues that cannot be addressed together should not come in the way of those that can be resolved. Underlining that the meeting is taking place in the land of Gandhi and the Buddha, the Prime Minister urged the excellencies to draw inspiration from India’s civilizational ethos of focusing not on what divides us, but on what unites us all.

Throwing light on the thousands of lives lost in natural disasters and the disastrous pandemic that the world faced, PM noted how global supply chains have broken down during times of stress and turmoil. Observing that stable economies were suddenly overwhelmed by debt and financial crisis, PM stressed the need to show resilience in our societies, economies, healthcare systems and in infrastructure. “The G20 has a critical role to play in finding the right balance between growth and efficiency on one hand and resilience on the other”, He suggested that this balance can be achieved more easily by working together. Concluding the address, The collective wisdom and ability and hoped that today’s meeting will turn out to be ambitious, inclusive and action-oriented where resolutions are made while rising above differences he added.