India a voice for Global South at G7, says foreign minister

PARIS: India, whose leader has been invited to the G7 starting on Sunday, is eager to represent the Global South on the world stage, acting as a “bridge” between different countries, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said.

India is not a member of the G7 -- which comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- but the world´s most populous nation and one of its biggest economies has been invited to summits since 2019.

“We have been an outreach country in the G7 for many years, and I think it brings benefits to the G7,” he told AFP in Paris. “There are very strong feelings in the Global South about the inequities of the international order, the desire to change it, and we are very much part of that,” he added.

“It is important for us to organise ourselves and make our presence felt.” The leaders of the G7 kick off a yearly summit in the Canadian Rockies on Sunday. They have invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with the leaders of Ukraine, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea, to attend at a time of global turmoil and a radical new US approach to world affairs.

The member nations are also expected to deliberate on troubled relations with China and Russia. India is a leading member of BRICS -- a bloc of leading emerging economies that includes Russia and China, whose leaders are set to meet in early July.

BRICS has growing economic clout and is increasingly seen as a G7 rival. Jaishankar said India had “the ability to work with different countries in a way without making any relationship exclusive”.

“To the extent that that serves as a bridge, it´s frankly a help that we do to international diplomacy at a time when, mostly what you see are difficult relationships and excessive tensions,” he added.