India's continued support for Non-Aligned Movement and Global South

New Delhi: As many as 125 countries participated in the Voice of Global South Summit organised by India. These include 47 African, 31 Asian, 29 Latin American and 11 countries in the Caribbean and Oceania, and seven countries in Europe. Given the overwhelming response to the conference, there are clear indications that India will prioritise this group. However, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra assured that although India attaches importance to the Global South, it will not diminish India’s commitment to the Non-Aligned Movement – NAM.

India organised the Voice of Global South Summit to present the voice of the developing countries, which are part of the Global South, at the international level against the backdrop of upheavals going on at the international level. The G20 conference will take place in India this year. By organising this virtual meeting of the Global South before it, it seems that India has forced the developed countries to take note of the voice of the developing countries. India pointed out that developing countries must present their issues and problems at the international level. Also, India has said at the Global South Summit that if it wants to influence international affairs, it will have to make conscious efforts and reforms will have to be made in the United Nations and other international organisations.

Significantly, the points raised by India received support in this conference. While speaking on the second day of this conference, India’s foreign minister criticised the United Nations. The United Nations became an organisation organised in 1945 and frozen. Jaishankar said that this organisation is not ready to pay attention to the demands of its own member countries. In such a situation, the foreign minister of India had told Global South that a new process of globalisation should be started and initiative should be taken for it. Therefore, there are clear indications that India is preparing to raise the issues of developing countries at the international level with more intensity.

India has traditionally adhered to a foreign policy of non-alignment and refrained from participating in any factional divisions among nations. Therefore, during the Cold War, India accepted isolation without taking part in the conflict between the superpowers of America and Soviet Russia. India inspired other countries to do the same by taking the initiative for the movement of separatist countries called the Non-Aligned Movement.

After the end of the Cold War, there was a discussion that the importance of NAM had also ended. But India has once again announced the importance of NAM and has given the message that its importance is intact. However, it seems India has proved its leadership on the world stage by building new organisations like Global Solar Alliance and Global South. Analysts say that the results of this will be seen in the future.

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