India has set an example in global diplomacy through its response to COVID-19 challenge by minimising fatality rate and maximising recovery rate due to the disease, S Jaishankar, minister of external affairs wrote on February 10 in an article in American weekly magazine, Newsweek.
In the opinion piece titled ‘Reimagining Diplomacy in the Post-COVID World: An Indian Perspective’ Jaishankar, a diplomat-turned-politician, elucidates how India is also leading the way in its response to other global challenges such as combating climate change, countering terrorism and embarking on the digital transformation.
“Fashioning a robust response to the COVID-19 challenge is set to dominate global diplomacy in 2021. In its own way, India has set an example. That it has done by defying prophets of doom and creating the health wherewithal to minimize its fatality rate and maximize its recovery rate,” Jaishankar wrote referring to international comparison of COVID-19 numbers.My article in @Newsweek on
Reimagining Diplomacy in the Post-COVID World. https://t.co/CYfG6La084
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) February 11, 2021
India, the minister wrote, also stepped forward as the pharmacy of the world, supplying medicines to more than 150 countries, many as grants
“As our nation embarks on a mass vaccination effort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance that it would help make vaccines accessible and affordable to the world is already being implemented,” he wrote even as first consignments of Made in India vaccines have reached not only our neighbours like Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius, Seychelles and Sri Lanka but partners far beyond like Brazil and Morocco.
On India’s response to Climate change, Jaishankar wrote that as a central participant in reaching the Paris agreement, the country has stood firm with regard to combating climate change.
“Its renewable energy targets have multiplied, its forest cover has grown, its bio-diversity has expanded and its focus on water utilization has increased,” he writes adding how practices honed at home are now applied to its development partnerships in Africa and elsewhere.
Follow our COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker: Over 2.15 lakh people receive coronavirus vaccine on February 10
“By example and energy, Indian diplomacy is leading the way, including through the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure initiatives.
The challenge of countering terrorism and radicalization is also a formidable one, the minister writes. “As a society, long subjected to cross-border terrorist attacks, India has been active in enhancing global awareness and encouraging coordinated action. It will be a major focus in India's diplomacy as a non-permanent member of the Security Council and in forums like FATF and G20,” he said.
Jaishankar wrote that global diplomacy will nevertheless focus on common concerns and shared lessons, in post-COVID world. What the pandemic, however, brought out was the deeper indivisibility of our existence, he writes.
“Real globalization is more about pandemics, climate change and terrorism. They must constitute the core of diplomatic deliberations. As we saw in 2020, overlooking such challenges comes at a huge cost,” he writes.
Among the takeaways from the COVID-19 experience, the minister said, has been the power of the digital domain.
“Whether it was contact tracing or the provision of financial and food support, India's digital focus after 2014 has yielded impressive results, he wrote.
“The "work from anywhere" practice was as strongly enhanced by COVID-19 as the "study from home" one. All these will help expand the toolkit of India's development programs abroad and assist the recovery of many partners,” the minister said.
The world after COVID-19, Jaishankar summed up, will be more multi-polar, pluralistic and rebalanced. “And India, with its experiences, will help make a difference,” he said.