Prime Minister’s recent visit to Nigeria, Brazil, and Guyana offers an understanding of India’s current foreign policy priorities
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nigeria, Brazil, and Guyana
Why in news ?
(November 16-21, 2024) was exceptionally well designed to achieve multiple objectives.
It covering three different geographic regions
— Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean — and encompassed an extensive interaction on bilateral, regional and global issues.
Prime Minister’s primary purpose
was to represent India at the nineteenth summit of the Group of 20 (G-20), in Brazil, his spending ample time in the two other countries enhanced the impact of this trans-continental journey.
Nigeria, the first leg
It was a full-scale state visit
to Africa’s most populous nation and the fourth-largest economy.
West African nation’s global heft / image has been increasing,
As Nigeria’s recent chairship of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is relevant too.
Some similarities for both countries
As two large democracies and multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and multi-linguistic societies devoted to ‘unity in diversity’, India and Nigeria are natural partners.
कैसे किया सरेमोनियल गया स्वागत ?
welcome at the State House complete with a 21-gun salute, and the conferment of a top national award were clear giveaways.
क्या क्या मुद्दे रहे चर्चा में ??
Nigeria, an important beneficiary
of India’s development assistance and human-resource development-related programmes, has been keen to advance the ‘strategic partnership’.
They agreed for
expanding bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, education, energy, health, culture, and people-to-people ties.
New areas such as agriculture, urban transportation, renewable energy, and digital transformation were identified.
Besides, they renewed their commitment to joint combat against terrorism, extremism, and radicalisation.
bureaucratic delays on the host side
Despite closeness at the political level, only three memoranda of understanding (MoU) were signed due probably to bureaucratic delays on the host side. Overall, the visit was a clear plus for the India-Nigeria friendship.
G-20, the centrepiece in Brazil
कब और कहाँ इसका आयोजन किया गया ?
The nineteenth summit of G-20, comprising 19 powerful economies and two regional organisations, was hosted in Rio de Janeiro (November 18–19).
भारत की तरफ़ से कौन से मुद्दे उठाए गए ?
It took forward the people-centric decisions adopted at the New Delhi summit by mainstreaming key perspectives of the Global South into the G-20 decision-making.
३ priority
The Rio Declaration
highlighted the three priorities defined by the Brazilian presidency:
- social inclusion,
- sustainable development
- and reform of global governance institutions.
first issue, the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty was launched.
It will serve as a platform for “mobilizing finance and knowledge sharing” on a wide scale.
२ Regarding sustainable development
the G-20 reiterated its previous positions but failed to make headway on climate finance.
On the third issue
road map for “Better, Bigger and more Effective Multilateral Development Banks”, with the group calling for its early implementation.
दुनिया की नज़र से देखती है जी 20 के समिट को
As conflicts rage in Europe and West Asia, leaders sought peaceful resolution and focused attention on the significant issues of economic development and climate change.
While experts debated what the G-20 summit achieved, many expressed the view that it was time for the group to concentrate on implementing its decisions.
हाथ मिलाने का मौक़ा मिल गया
Mr. Modi met several leaders, notably from the United States, Europe, and the Global South countries.
The Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to devise the next stage of the India-China rapprochement.
Guyana, as the wrap up
On the third leg, Mr. Modi travelled to Guyana
a nation of fewer than one million people in the Caribbean region.
Its importance came into focus:
- 40% of the population is of Indian origin,
- a robust bilateral cooperation programme exists,
- Guyana has energy resources
- important player in regional affairs.
Decisions were announced
to expand cooperation in diverse sectors such as
- energy,
- defence,
- urban development,
- digital collaboration,
- education,
- and food security as 10 MOUs were signed.
second summit in Georgetown, Guyana
India and the Caribbean Community held their second summit in Georgetown, Guyana.
This enabled Mr. Modi to interact with about a dozen leaders of this successful regional body.
He proposed seven pillars
to deepen cooperation, covering
- capacity building,
- agriculture and food security,
- renewable energy and climate change,
- innovation,
- technology and trade,
- cricket and culture,
- ocean economy,
- and medicine and health.
WAY FORWARD
In sum, the Prime Minister’s visit packed a lot within six days. It contributed to enhancing India’s global standing and Mr. Modi’s image and popularity abroad.
Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali hailed him as “a champion among leaders” who has “led incredibly”.
Through the expeditious implementation of the decisions announced, New Delhi could optimise the outcomes of this bold essay in diplomacy.
SOURCE THE HINDU
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