Categories
-Top News Columns India News

India And Reformed Multilateralism

India has been the biggest votary of strengthening multilateralism over the years. But, in a changed world, if the most populous country and the fifth largest economy, with a track record of multilateralism, democracy and a civilizational ethos of humanity, cannot be given its due in global governance, then there is need for reform, writes T S Tirumurti

T S Tirumurti

Multilateralism is in crisis. With every turn of events, multilateral systems and international organisations are being debilitated almost always at the cost of the Global South. The United Nations stands paralysed. Even as, on the one hand, international laws and agreements are adopted to strengthen the rules-based international order, on the other hand, these are being violated with impunity without accountability.

But the problem is much deeper. Majority of developing countries have become bystanders in the unravelling of the world order. Their only insurance i.e. universal participation in decision-making, is vanishing. Instead, they are being presented with two differing, even opposing, world views which they have been asked to subscribe to.

Almost all current problems, whether in the UN, WTO, IMF or the World Bank, can be traced back to the inability of the multilateral system to accommodate the new and emerging powers in the post-World War 2 architecture. Multilateralism is caught between those who fight to preserve the status-quo of 1945 and those who demand reform to reflect current realities which is more multipolar.  

India has been the biggest votary of strengthening multilateralism over the years. But, in a changed world, if the most populous country and the fifth largest economy, with a track record of multilateralism, democracy and a civilizational ethos of humanity, cannot be given its due in global governance, then there is need for reform. In fact, it was at the 10th annual summit of the BRICS in 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa, that Prime Minister Modi proposed for the first time his vision of “reformed multilateralism” to give major emerging powers a voice in global governance. 

India’s track record in the recent past and its two-year stint in the UN Security Council (2021-2022) have numerous examples, if at all examples are required, of how we bridged or overcame differences to build a more inclusive multilateral world. Accosted with global challenges like covid, climate change, digital and AI divide, terrorism etc, and sprouting of conflicts which threaten international peace and security, India has become indispensable in finding solutions.

Lest we forget, when the world was reeling under covid, and countries were hoarding vaccines for themselves, it was India which came forward to produce and distribute vaccines. For our Vaccine Maitri, we prioritized small and vulnerable countries and saved numerous lives.

In December 2021, in UN Security Council (UNSC), we successfully thwarted a move to wrest climate change from the inclusive UN Framework Convention on Climate Change-led process (UNFCCC), where all countries are present, and bring it under the ambit of UNSC – effectively putting climate action at the mercy of five permanent members (P-5), who are the major historical polluters. India underscored that the draft resolution “seeks to hand over that responsibility to a body which neither works through consensus nor is reflective of the interests of the developing countries.” The draft was defeated through a vote since India voted against, while Russia exercised the veto. If it had succeeded, climate change architecture would have, by now, kept out the voice of the Global South, especially the most vulnerable and the Small Island Developing States. India yet again came on the side of inclusivity and multilateralism. It was in the same vein that India was instrumental in setting up the International Solar Alliance which now has 100 member countries.

G20 is now an influential plurilateral group consisting of major economies taking decisions on global economic and developmental issues which impact all other countries as well. However, a glaring lacuna was that it was not fully representative of the smaller and medium sized states of the Global South. To bridge this gap, when India took over G20 Presidency (2022-23), Prime Minister Modi convened the Voice of Global South Summit where 125 developing countries participated. TheSummit’s outcome was channelized into G20 discussions during India’s Presidency making sure that G20 took informed and inclusive decisions affecting the vast majority. In addition, India lobbied and inducted African Union into G20 – a huge step for a continent which has not been adequately represented either in G20 or UNSC or in other international bodies.

Needless to add, India has been at the forefront of efforts to reform the UN Security Council. Dealing with conflicts is the business of UNSC but inability to deal with them has become its hallmark. When the UN was established, there were 51 member states. Now we have 193. But we still have only five permanent members, who are polarized and have paralysed decision-making in the Council. The days when a small group of countries decided what the world should do are over. The logical fall-out of an unreformed Security Council is the emergence of other power centres to challenge it leading to fragmentation of the world order. Unless there is legitimate, representative and permanent representation of the Global South, especially that of the largest country India and a continent of 54 countries Africa, we cannot have meaningful decisions in the Council.

Our support to the developing world was reinforced during India’s stint in UNSC, where we stood for their territorial integrity, increased humanitarian assistance, correcting historical injustice, reform, development partnership, fighting terror and for peaceful resolution of disputes.

However, it was India’s independent and proactive stand during the Ukraine war which acted as a catalyst in helping other developing countries voice their dissatisfaction on a military solution being pursued and call for diplomacy and dialogue even in the midst of intense fighting and high emotions, when all levers were being weaponized. In effect, this was India saying that we do not have to choose sides between warring blocs however big or important they may be. This was India saying that we stand for another world view which seeks the path of dialogue over war, seeks an inclusive world over polarization and fragmentation, seeks independence of policy-making over coercion of small and medium states in their decision-making, seeks territorial integrity over occupation and seeks reformed multilateralism over status-quo or unilateralism.

(Ambassador (Retd.) T.S. Tirumurti is a former Indian Ambassador and presently Professor at IIT Madras)

ALSO READ: Geopolitics Of The Indo-Pacific

Categories
-Top News Asia News World News

Neutral rules essential for multilateralism

The intention of Beijing is to get BRICS to accept RMB as the common currency, replacing the US dollar….writes Madhav Nalapat

A visitor to China will find much that has been designed and built to impress, whether it be the massive skyscrapers or the multi-lane highways crisscrossing a city and the country. High-speed trains convey passengers at speed smoothly to numerous destinations, evoking awe in the minds of visitors. Older and even not so old buildings are razed to the ground and replaced with modern structures, and overall there is an impression of bustle that could rival cities such as Tokyo or Mumbai in the business quotient.

Taiwan is very different. Although the per capita income of the small but significant island is over $33,000 as compared to $12,000 in China, the capital of Taiwan is unpretentious. The roads are smaller, as are the houses, not to mention that older buildings are allowed to remain rather than get torn down. Comparing the two sides, it would be difficult to guess that it is Taiwan that is in per capita terms more of a powerhouse than its much larger neighbour on the other side of the straits.

The buildup of infrastructure in Taipei has been sedate as compared to that witnessed in Beijing. What is unmistakable is the difference in the ambience. Folks in the Chinese capital are more careful about what they speak and to whom. There is an invisible CCP-directed script that they adhere to so consistently that doing so has become second nature to them, so much so that they almost believe what they are saying to others, especially to foreigners. In contrast, people in Taiwan are relaxed about airing their views.

Political parties and television channels each have their own script, all of which causes the ambient noise that is the cadence of discourse in democracies. While almost all the people across both sides of the Taiwan Straits come from the same ancestral roots, they have evolved into entirely different societies. Whatever was left of the mood for unification with China has been dissipated by the experience of once different Hong Kong, which has been pummelled into subservience to the CCP the way the rest of the PRC has.

Whether it be within the PRC or in the littoral of China, locations such as ASEAN or even Taiwan, high-ranking visiting officials of the CCP walk with a swagger, steeped as they are in the belief that Might is Right.

In the CCP-directed script, it is always China that is the peace loving country, that is never the aggressor. That any contrary impression is because of untruths peddled by US media. What had been concealed from getting expressed in the past is now openly said, which is that the US is the enemy. There are more than a few in the Biden administration who remain trapped in the fog of memories relating to Cold War 1.0, during which Beijing was an ally in the battle against Moscow.

Joe Biden has been a Cold Warrior throughout his political life, and it is no accident that he was the prime mover behind the effort launched by NATO since 2022 to terminally weaken the Russian Federation, so that it dissolves into fragments. This is an eventuality that would be welcomed in Beijing, which would waste little time in seizing as much land in eastern Russian as it could. Not for the first time, by its actions Washington has speeded up the pace of the effort by the CCP to overtake the US not merely in GDP but in terms of global power and influence.

To take a single example, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen signed on to the numerous sanctions on Russia that have so affected global growth, and continues to believe that any large scale shift of US investment from China to elsewhere would be a disaster for the US a stand that has earned her the title of “useful idiot” of the PRC from Senator Tom Cotton. Not that Janet Yellen appears to have noticed, but even in recent times, the PRC has occupied huge chunks of land, air and sea space that does not belong to it.

Each such acquisition is justified on the ground that it is Chinese territory. In the PRC telling of a wrong narrative, there has been no aggression against India, to take the example of the world’s largest democracy. All that the PLA soldiers were doing was to take a stroll in their own land when they were interrupted by Indian troops. In the CCP book, any territory occupied by China or which is a target of that country’s expansionism is by definition Chinese and has always been. Such are the rules of the game that Beijing would like the world to play by.

The western world has often been accused by others of having set up a rules-based international order that they themselves ignore in practice whenever it is convenient to do so. Or to set rules that have the effect of perpetuating western dominance. In the longstanding tradition of copying the example of the US, the CCP is seeking to replace Washington and its western allies as the prime movers in global affairs while creating a set of international rules that are skewed to favour the PRC.

The BRI is an example, where almost all the money spent flows back to China in some form or the other. A multilateral world calls for rules that are neutral between countries, not those that tilt in one direction or the other. Those countries that preach multilateralism while promoting a unilateral world order need to have their biases called out.

There was a lot of discussion within BRICS about using each other’s currency for purposes of trade. Had the idea been implemented, each of the members of BRICS would have been the gainers. However, it is clear that the intention of Beijing is to get the group to accept RMB as the common currency, replacing the US dollar.

Which is why efforts to revert to the rupee-rouble trade that took place during the Soviet era failed. Behind the scenes, Xi persuaded Putin to ensure that the Russian Federation asked for payment for its oil not in rupee terms but in RMB. There is clearly no interest in Beijing for the rupee to begin to be used more widely as a key currency in international trade, as would have been the case were there to be a revival of the rupee-rouble agreement.

Nor is there any desire in Beijing to promote the South African rand or the Brazilian real. Only the RMB matters or ought to matter. A fitting response would be for IBSA (India Brazil South Africa) to begin using each other’s currencies in trade amongst themselves, an initiative that could be taken by ASEAN as well. Genuine multilateralism calls for such moves, and not merely the exchange of a single dominant power or currency with another.

ALSO READ: India’s gain as supply chains shift away from China

Categories
-Top News India News

Tomar calls for renewed faith in multilateralism

Over 100 delegates are attending the first G20 International Financial Architecture Working Group meeting, under the G20 Indian Presidency, in Chandigarh…reports Asian Lite News

Underlining the need for a renewed faith in multilateralism, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday said India is developing rapidly due to science and innovation, both of which are closely related to the country’s future.

Addressing the day one of the First International Financial Architecture Working Group Meeting of G20 here, Tomar said India has leveraged technology to create digital public infrastructure.

“The world today is faced with a number of complex challenges, which are deeply interlinked and are not defined by borders alone,” he said.

“The challenges being faced are global in nature and require global solutions, therefore, the world community today needs to lay greater emphasis on globally coordinated policies and actions. There is also a need for a renewed faith in multilateralism.”

The theme of India’s G20 Presidency — “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or “One Earth, One Family, One Future” –is drawn from the ancient Sanskrit text of the Maha Upanishad. It underlines the message of equitable development and a shared future for all.

India’s endeavour will be to facilitate constructive dialogue, share knowledge and work together towards the collective aspiration for a secure, peaceful and prosperous world, said Tomar in his address in Hindi.

Tomar said India is ready to fulfill the responsibility given to it. “We would be happy to share the template of our successful growth model, so we’re open to learning from everyone as well.”

“This year, through our priorities and outcomes, we seek to find practical global solutions through dialogue. In doing so, we will also take a keen interest in amplifying the voices of developing countries.”

He said India cannot leave anyone behind now. “Through our G20’s inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented and decisive agenda, we aim to reveal the true spirit of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.”

Noting G20’s exemplary contribution in providing assistance to the most vulnerable and low-income developing countries in recent years, he said the measures taken to address rising credit insecurity were particularly noteworthy.

“The growing momentum of these efforts will continue with India’s presidency in 2023. At the same time, G20 will take advantage of its good position to consider how we can redesign global and financial governance.”

Under the chairmanship of India, G20 will seek to explore how multilateral development banks, the principal agents of development, can be better equipped to meet the global challenges of the 21st century.

Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Pashupati Kumar Paras, who jointly inaugurated the First International Financial Architecture Working Group Meeting along with his colleague Tomar, said India’s endeavour would be to facilitate constructive dialogue, share knowledge and work together towards the collective aspiration for a secure, peaceful and prosperous world.

He said the Indian Presidency of G-20 has the responsibility to build on the progress made so far and ensure that the international financial architecture remains well equipped to meet the “acute challenges it faces today and provide maximum support to vulnerable groups”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos last year, questioned whether multilateral organisations “are ready to deal with the new world order and new challenges,” he said.

Over 100 delegates are attending the first G20 International Financial Architecture Working Group meeting, under the G20 Indian Presidency, in Chandigarh.

The International Financial Architecture Working Group is one of the important work streams under the G20 Finance Track with a focus on strengthening international financial architecture.

It also aims to address multiple challenges faced by vulnerable countries.

The discussions during the two-day meeting will be jointly steered by the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India along with France and South Korea, who are the Co-chairs of the International Financial Architecture Working Group.

ALSO READ-Over 100 delegates to attend first G20 Finance Meeting

Categories
-Top News World News

G20 leaders uphold multilateralism, grapple with pandemic

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, called on the G20 to quickly supply the vaccine donations that have been pledged to Africa, and support vaccine production there…reports Asian Lite News.

The leaders of the world’s major economies and international organizations called for enhanced international cooperation on the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly on the supply and distribution of vaccines, as multilateral talks kicked off at the Group of 20 (G20) Leaders’ Summit on Saturday.

Even before the pandemic, “we faced protectionism, unilateralism and nationalism,” Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi said in his opening remarks, stressing that “it is clear multinationalism is the best answer to the problems we face today.”

Draghi praised the global vaccination effort that has almost met the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target of vaccinating 40 per cent of the world’s adult population by the end of this year, though he noted that vaccination campaigns in poor countries have lagged dramatically behind those in high-income countries, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Now we must do all we can to reach 70 per cent global vaccination rate by mid-2022,” Draghi added.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said through a video link at the first session of the summit that the G20 countries should solve the problem of mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccines and vaccination certificates as soon as possible. This issue combined with unfair competition and protectionism means not all countries have equal access to vaccines and other vital resources, he stressed.

He called on the G20 members to develop mechanisms for the systematic and prompt updating of vaccines, given that the coronavirus continues to mutate.

Meanwhile, European Council President Charles Michel tweeted during the summit: “We need to expand vaccine sharing and production in vulnerable countries, notably against Covid-19,” adding that a treaty on pandemics will allow for better prevention, preparedness and global response.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, called on the G20 to quickly supply the vaccine donations that have been pledged to Africa, and support vaccine production there.

“Vaccine equity is not charity; it’s in every country’s best interests,” he said.

The issues at the top of the agenda for the two-day summit under the Italian Presidency of the G20 include the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and economic recovery.

ALSO READ-Biden renews commitment to return to Iran N-deal

READ MORE-Jaishankar, Blinken discuss strategic partnership