India’s emergence as major economic power enables it to help Global South countries: EAM Jaishankar

United Nations, Sep 23 (IANS) India’s emergence as a major economic power enables it to help countries across the Global South achieve shared prosperity, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar assured nations of Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Over the past decade, India has emerged as one of the world’s major economies. Our GDP has more than doubled, growth has remained robust”, he told the foreign ministers of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) here on Tuesday.

He pointed out that “India today combines a large and increasingly skilled human resource base with increasing capabilities, a growing market, strong digital infrastructure and expanding technology capacities”.

“This has strengthened our ability to contribute meaningfully to global growth and to partners across the Global South”, he said.

India’s engagement with the Global South was not driven by narrow national interest, but “reflects our solidarity and commitment to shared prosperity”, he said.

He mentioned India’s assistance during Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica last year, and the earthquake that devastated Venezuela this year; support for development programmes in the Caribbean; and the supply of medicines to Latin American countries.

EAM Jaishankar co-chaired the foreign ministers’ meeting of the 33-member CELAC with Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin.

After the meeting, he said on X that the ministers agreed to cooperate in health and pharma, food and agriculture, energy and resources, small and medium enterprises, and digital technology.

They also extended support for Indian-led initiatives including International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, International Big Cat Alliance, Global Biofuels Alliance and Mission Life, he said.

New Delhi will increase the slots for the CELAC countries in the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, he added.

In his speech, EAM Jaishankar stressed the dimensions of economic and business cooperation between India and CELAC, whose mutual trade has increased to over $50 billion annually/

“Yet there is much more room to grow”, he said.

“Our strengths are highly complementary: India brings technology, pharmaceuticals, skilled resources, digital capabilities and a large and growing market, while CELAC offers opportunities in critical minerals, sustainable energy, agriculture, food resources and other natural assets”, he said.

–IANS

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