World looks at G-20 process with hope: Envoy
Sevil Erkuş-ANKARA
India’s presidency of the group G-20 comes as the world is facing numerous unprecedented global challenges and their consequences in a rather compressed time period, the Indian ambassador to Türkiye has said, stressing that geopolitical tensions have the potential to further add to the severity of the challenges.
“Major issues attracting high priority attention include climate change, pandemics, terrorism, financial instability, food and energy security, unsustainable debt in the developing world, natural disasters and the larger need to make global governance more effective in addressing such issues,” Indian Ambassador to Türkiye Dr. Virander Paul told Hürriyet Daily News.
“Geopolitical tensions have the potential to further add to the severity of the challenges. The agenda is extensive. The world is looking at the G-20 process with hope,” the ambassador said.
Aimed to be inclusive, ambitious, decisive, and action-oriented, India’s G20 Presidency is actively working towards building a collective resolve and global consensus on all these issues with a much-desired emphasis on human-centric globalization, he said, stressing that it is also a time when the G20 mechanism needs to become the voice of the Global South, that is otherwise underrepresented in such forums.
India assumed the presidency of the G20 for one year, from Dec. 1, 2022, to Nov. 30, 2023. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu attended the G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting in the Indian capital New Delhi last week.
The theme of India’s G20 Presidency is “One Earth, One Family, One Future, which is derived from the ancient Sanskrit expression “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.”
The expression represents the Indian philosophical thought that underscores the concept of unity or oneness in the creation; the universe is diverse, but there is interconnectedness and harmony in it, Paul explained.
When it comes to bilateral relations between Türkiye and India, the ambassador underlined that there is considerable potential to jointly work toward further developing ties.
Türkiye and India are two richly diverse democracies enjoying considerable geopolitical standing in the current international environment, the ambassador stated.
“Our bilateral economic engagement, in particular, has tremendous potential, and we should jointly take full advantage of it,” he said, noting that the annual bilateral trade has already reached around $12 billion and that there is shared readiness to make even bigger leaps forward.
He also said there are new possibilities stemming from India’s progress in innovation and start-ups, as well as its participation in more robust and resilient tech-driven global supply chains in the post-COVID times.
Indian businesses have already shown breakthroughs in areas such as infrastructure, construction technologies, IT, textiles, electrical goods manufacturing, automotive and hi-tech engineering, and there seems to be a good scope for greater collaboration also in the areas of tourism, entertainment and creative industry and health care and pharmaceuticals, the envoy noted.
“It is encouraging to see the growing interest at the B2B level in appreciating and taking advantage of each other’s strengths and capabilities. I would continue to support all such initiatives. As relations between our two countries progress on a mutually agreed basis in the times ahead, new areas of cooperation could be added to the range and depth of our bilateral agenda,” he said.
