Nine years of PM Modi: ‘World sees India as development partner’ says EAM S Jaishankar
2 min read 08 Jun 2023, 12:11 PM ISTHighlighting on the progress of India at global front under the leadership of PM Modi, EAM S Jaishankar said that the second image of India is that of an economic collaborator
PremiumThrowing light upon the transformation of India at global front under the nine years of PM Modi's leadership, EAM S Jaishankar said that a large part of the world sees India as a development partner. He also emphasised that the world, especially Global South, perceives India as a development partner.
“A large part of the world sees us as a development partner, not just as a development partner but a development partner who lives up to what PM enunciated...Today, the second image of India is that of an economic collaborator," said the external affairs minister at the press conference on Thursday.
“India is making significant economic impact that has been recognised globally.Global South perceives India as a credible partner," said S Jaishankar.
The remarks form the External Affairs Minister on India's progress at global level came while addressing a special briefing on nine years of PM Narendra Modi’s foreign policy. Ministers of state V Muraleedharan, Meenakashi Lekhi, and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh and Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra were also present.
He said, “I think most of you would not dispute that among the many areas where there's been a significant transformation, foreign policy would surely be among them. It's reflected in the country's higher standing, greater influence, bigger footprint, new concepts, and stronger delivery. Now, there are many ways by which one can judge how foreign policy has changed, how it has delivered, where has it made its deepest impact."
To evaluate Indian foreign policy over the nine years, Jaishankar picked two broad themes as the metrics.
The first theme being, “How does the world see India today?" and second, “How has foreign policy affected the lives of the common citizen?"
The External Affairs Minister also said, “So what, in a sense, I present to you is an accumulation of our collective experiences. And if I were to pick them, probably the one which I would start off with is how much today the world, especially the global south, perceives India as a development partner, as a credible, effective development partner with delivery on the ground."
EAM Jaishankar then pointed to India's development partnership in Namibia, Guyana, Mozambique, Kenya, Mauritius and even gave an example of how India gave a ferry to Guyana, rails to Mozambique, textile factory to Kenya, metro to Mauritius.
“I came back yesterday morning from Namibia and I inaugurated, formerly a center of Excellence in It, which has been functioning there for about a year and a half and the impact on the technology university of Namibia, by our giving a Param Supercomputer, having trainers out there, working with them, developing cybersecurity skills, developing entrepreneurial skills, promoting research," Jaishankar said.