India’s Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has urged India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) partners to deepen collaboration, complement one another’s development priorities and demonstrate a model of sustainable development to the world.
Addressing the high-level IBSA meeting on the sidelines of the second day of the Group of Twenty (G20) Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg on Sunday, the Prime Minister highlighted cooperation opportunities in areas such as millets, natural farming, disaster resilience, green energy, traditional medicines and health security.
During the high-level meeting, convened by President Cyril Ramaphosa and attended by the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio, Modi proposed an IBSA Fund for Climate Resilient Agriculture to further advance South-South cooperation.
IBSA is a forum that brings together India, Brazil and South Africa - three large democracies and major economies from three different continents, facing similar challenges.
The forum was established to deepen South-South cooperation, coordinate positions on global issues, and promoting trilateral partnerships.
“The Prime Minister stressed that global governance institutions are far removed from 21st century realities. He called on IBSA to send a strong message that reform of institutions of global governance, in particular the United Nations Security Council, is now not an option, but an imperative.
“On counterterrorism, the Prime Minister emphasised the need for close coordination and that there should be no room for double standards while fighting terrorism,” a statement issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs said.
While highlighting technology's crucial role in ensuring human-centric development, Prime Minister Modi proposed establishing an 'IBSA Digital Innovation Alliance' to facilitate sharing of Digital Public Infrastructure like the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), health platforms like CoWIN [Winning Over COVID], cybersecurity frameworks and women-led tech initiatives among the three countries.
“The Prime Minister also emphasised IBSA's potential to contribute to the development of safe, trustworthy and human-centric Artificial Intelligence norms. He invited IBSA leaders to the AI Impact Summit to be held in India next year,” the Ministry said.
South Africa is hosting Heads of State and Government from the world's largest economies at the first G20 Summit held on African soil under the theme: ‘Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability’.
G20 members represent 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population.
It comprises 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the European Union, and since 2023, the African Union. - SAnews.gov.za
