Transcript of Special Briefing by External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar on the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit (August 17, 2024)

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Namaskar and Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to this Special Briefing on the 3rd Summit of the Voice of Global South. It is our privilege to have with us Honorable External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar for this Session. Also on the dais, we have Foreign Secretary, Shri Vikram Misri; and OSD in the Ministry of External Affairs, Shri P. Kumaran; as also Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. S. Raghuram. I would like to remind you that this Special Briefing is focused on the 3rd Summit of the Voice of Global South. So, please focus your questions on this topic. With that, I invite Honorable External Affairs Minister to make his opening remarks. Sir, over to you.

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister: Thank you Randhir. Good evening. We have just concluded the 3rd Voice of the Global South Summit. It began with the Leaders' Session in the morning and just concluded with a Session of the Foreign Ministers. All in all, 123 countries took part in the Summit, including India. At the level of head of State/Head of Government, there were 21 countries. There were 118 Ministers, not counting the Foreign Ministers, and there were 34 Foreign Ministers. There were also five Multilateral Development Banks. So if you add it all up together, that's 21 plus 118- 139; plus 34, so 173 plus 5. This is the first plurilateral event, big plurilateral event of the Government in its third term. It has been part of our 100-day agenda. So we're delighted that we could get that moving.

So let me come to the Summit itself. As I said, we had an Inaugural Session and then there were 10 Ministerial Sessions; two Foreign Ministers', Health, Youth, Finance, Trade, IT, Energy, Education and Environment. The main theme of the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit was 'An Empowered Global South for a Sustainable Future'. And I want to share with you, the timing of the Summit was of course partly dictated by the fact that we will all be proceeding to New York for the Summit of the Future, where many of the issues which we have discussed here, would also be discussed out there.

Now what I would like to do really is to give you a sense of what has happened during the day and I would begin with the Prime Minister's Opening Remarks. I think it has been released to the public, but if I can sum it up essentially, he recalled that the earlier Voice of the Global South had helped the G20 Presidency, it had promoted the membership of the African Union, that it had focused on climate action, on health and food security, on energy, it had also addressed terrorism, separatism, extremism, technology challenges and the outdated international architecture were the subjects which were discussed earlier.

He then spoke about the progress in India and gave examples of Mission LiFE, of rooftop solar, of UPI, of 'India stack', and the pointed issue was that in many ways these are experiences that India is sharing with other countries of the Global South. When it came specifically to health, he spoke about the fact that our development assistance today includes hospitals, it includes dialysis projects that we've done, vaccines, that we've been the 'first responder', and that other examples which had happened since last year were the Global South Young Diplomats Forum and the Global South Action Centre. So these were broadly the thrust of his Opening Remarks.

Now, as I said, thereafter, we had the first Session of the Heads of Government/Heads of State. 21 of them spoke. Now, a lot of what they said was common, so I don't want to go into it person by person. But I essentially culled out 10 points of importance, which were overlapping, which were, I think, broadly reflective of the sentiment of the discussions. These are at the Leaders' level. And these 10 points: one, of course, was that the problems which they all raised, which was the core of the discussion, were today food, health, and energy security issues, the challenges faced on resources and accessing resources, the problem of realizing the demographic dividend, concerns about employment and about economic inequality. So this, in a way, were common problems, which many many leaders raised.

Then there was a very strong focus on their climate concerns. So almost every leader spoke about the extreme weather. Many referred to the emissions challenge, growing pollution. A few of them brought up, specifically, water issues, biodiversity. And the Small Island Developing States were particularly articulate about their predicament. Flowing from that, again, I would say there was a broad theme on the concerns pertaining to the Sustainable Development Goals. A lot of it was about resources, but the scars of the pandemic era, how the pandemic had set back SDG progress, I think, was a clear sense of the room. Many leaders spoke about debt burden, about liquidity issues that they faced.

Then there were references to the challenges of new technologies. And here, they referred to AI, to cyber, how to prepare human resources for this new era. And there was a lot of, I would say, advocacy of intra-South, South to South, technology transfers, sharing of best practices, references, particularly to fintech. Then talk about initiatives, initiatives like International Solar Alliance, like the Global Biofuels Alliance, even references to IBSA, India-Brazil-South Africa.

And again, some of them referred to multipolarity, saying that the world is moving towards multipolarity, and this should be reflected in the workings of the Global South. Where the UN and global architecture was concerned, I would say there was almost a unanimous view, in fact a unanimous view that there was a need for reform, that this was much delayed. Some countries very specifically referred to who they felt should be permanent members of the United Nations.

Then if I were to look at the other issues in terms of regional issues; Gaza, the situation in Gaza came up for mention from many of them. Some of them spoke about also on the role of the civil society. And then there was, again, talk about sovereignty, strategic autonomy, about interference, and concerns which were expressed in that regard.

And overall, I would say at the Leaders' level, appreciation that India had, in a way, initiated something very good with the Voice of the Global South. There was a positive evaluation of its past role. And clearly a sentiment that this is… in fact, two or three of them very specifically said, we hope that you will continue with the Voice of the Global South Summits. These were broadly the common points which were made by the Leaders.

Similarly, I had done an exercise for the two Sessions of the Foreign Ministers, because a lot of what they said, about the leaders, were more like at a vision level, a bigger concept level. Foreign Ministers were much more into, actually, execution of these ideas.

Again, climate concerns were very strong, I would say, almost like the number one theme of a lot of what was said. Then the second, again, which was common with the Leaders was debt distress and slow credit growth. One point which came through sharply in the Foreign Minister's meeting was on the rules-based order, about sovereignty, equality, mutual respect, partnership of equals, ownership of agenda. And in fact, one Foreign Minister said that today's international order is a bit like the animal farm, where all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. So that was the analogy given to the state of affairs in the world today. There was also, I think, concern expressed regarding shifting of goalposts, that very often in global discussions, positions are taken, goalposts are shifted, and this is done to preserve the lead of those who are in the lead.

Among specific concerns which the Ministers raised, I would say bridging the digital divide and technology concerns was one. Many of them spoke about corridors and connectivity, physical connectivity, energy connectivity, maritime connectivity, about supply chains. Few of them referred to cultural preservation concerns, that they were worried that their cultures… they were not just getting physically inundated by climate change, but in many cases also their cultures, they felt were vulnerable to what was happening in the world.

There was reference to disaster-resilient infrastructure, I think here particularly the small islands and the smaller countries were much more focused on that. And the overall messaging which came out of the Foreign Ministers was very much inclusive, equitable, representative, international order, and that the Global South really has to democratize global governance, it has to be much more active. So that was the sum and substance of mostly what happened at the Leaders' and the Foreign Ministers' level.

In terms of the conclusion, where the Prime Minister was concerned, he spoke of the need for a Global Development Compact, and said that the experience of India's development journey was something we were willing to share with other countries, that Global South must set its priorities and these priorities should be human-centric, they should be multi-dimensional, multi-sectoral, that there has to be sensitivity to debt, to sustainability of what countries were trying to do in terms of their progress and achievement.

The idea of trade for development, of encouraging capacity building, of technology sharing, of financing of projects in a very responsible way; also that within the Global South, we needed collectively to enhance our trade negotiation skills, that amongst us we could be helpful to each other in that regard, also that supporting the SDG Stimulus Leadership Group. He spoke about providing more generic medicines, of training for drug regulators so that the Global South itself was much more competent in this area, support for natural farming and how we need to find mechanisms and exercises where the Global North-Global South divide is bridged to the extent possible keeping in mind the interests of the Global South. So the exercise, in many ways, during the day was, a lot of it was really about preparing ourselves for the Summit of the Future.

What I would also like very, very quickly to run through; because there were… all in all there were 10 Ministerial proceedings which were going in parallel. I think the Finance one was supposed to be about people-centric approaches, how to finance SDGs, addressing debt liability, long-term financing. The Trade one was about global value chains, food security, about MSME support, trade facilitation. The Health one was on what we call the 'One World-One Health' concept, how to create a health architecture with the WHO at its core and how do we deal with universal health coverage challenges, how do we use digital public infrastructure for advancing health, looking at food safety regulations.

The IT one was expectedly centered around the digital public infrastructure and what we could, within the Global South, do in that regard. Education was about creating the human resources which would accelerate SDG targets, which would promote women-led development, which would help achieve demographic dividends, also discussion of future of work. Energy was on sustainable energy solutions, but also on the volatile markets, on new alternative energy, on transition moves, on the Biofuel Alliance, on equitable access to energy. The Environment was largely on mitigation pathways, climate finance action, climate justice, vulnerability mitigation, SIDS concerns. And finally, the Youth one was about how we address a skill-based education, economic youth leadership, innovation, employment readiness, how do we deal with the employment challenges in the Global South.

So this was really, in a sense, I would say a very succinct description of what were happening in multiple rooms, a lot of them in parallel. I have expectedly focused on the two where I was myself present, which was the one with the Prime Minister and the Leadership Session, and the two Foreign Ministers' Sessions. The rest of it is largely a description of the feedback that I have.

So I thought I would share that with you. And if any of you have any questions, clarifications, I'd be very happy to answer. We will be issuing a Chair Summary once we get the complete feedback from all the Sessions.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that, we open the floor. Please do introduce yourself as you ask your question.

Manish: Manish Chand, India Writes Network. Mainstreaming interest of the Global South was our enduring achievement of the G20 Presidency. Which features of South-centric initiatives are being carried forward by, say, Brazil? What is your hope that these will be carried to fruition by other Presidencies? And just a linked-up question, behind the rhetoric of South-South unity and solidarity, some say there is a power play shaping up. What is the sentiment? Do most of the Leaders, Foreign Ministers see India as a natural leader of the Global South?

Ayushi: Sir good evening, this is Ayushi Agarwal from ANI. Sir, could you expand more on the discussion related to the issue of terrorism and extremism? Was there an unequivocal condemnation in the room in regards to terrorism? Also, you mentioned about the issue of debt burden being discussed between the Leaders. So, were there concerns raised by countries when it comes to China's role in the issue?

Neeraj:Hello, sir. Neeraj from News18 India. Sir, mera sawal ye hai ki Bangladesh ke Chief Adviser ne bhi aaj hissa liya, wahan nayi sarkar bani hai aur Bharat ka padosi desh bhi hai, unke kya expectation hain is sammelan se kyuki wahan nayi sarkar sthapit hui hai, toh Global South sammelan se nayi sarkar ka kya expectation hai?

[Question in Hindi: Approximate translation]Hello, sir. Neeraj from News18 India. Sir, my question is that the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh also participated today. A new government has been formed there, and it is India's neighboring country also. What are their expectations from this Summit, especially since a new government has been formed there? So, what are the new government's expectations from the Global South Summit?

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister: Let me start with the first question, Manish from you. On the G20, I would say, by and large, there's been a fair amount of carry over for this reason. The fundamental nature of G20 has been that it works as a troika. And when it works as a troika, they were part, they were already fed into our Presidency. And we, going out, are continuing to be associated with that. So many of the issues, and some of them, for example, if you look at the MDB reform, it was not something which was limited, it was not something which could be done in a single Presidency, because you were looking at reports and then the follow up on those reports. I would say, overall, what our Presidency in a way did was, which today many people very explicitly recognize, was that we shifted the attention of the G20 itself on the Global South. One, of course, was the formal admission of the African Union. But if you looked at the kind of issues which came up in the G20 overall, many of them at Global South issues, which hadn't got that kind of attention earlier. That, I think, is very much kept up with Brazil. So there's a high degree of continuity there.

Is there a power play in it? No, I don't think there was…. that wasn't the sentiment in the room at all. The real issue was, look, we all have… I mean, many of them pretty much said it in these words, saying, look, we all have issues. We speak about our issues. Often we feel people don't hear us. The world doesn't hear us. But when we have this ability to see, okay, 100 and something other countries feel similarly, we had this exchange of notes, we are now going to go into New York, we all feel much stronger as a result, we feel much more confident about it. So I would say it was more like a certain solidarity. That word was often used. So it was more like a solidarity of countries with similar thoughts and similar interests, rather than a competitive sense.

Your question, a number of people did mention, I would say, perhaps more on the Foreign Ministers' meeting, on terrorism, extremism; I mean, as I said, PM himself mentioned it in his Opening Remarks, as issues which Global South has a shared concern. Obviously, everybody has their own version of this particular challenge. I would say people are pretty clear about it. I mean, I don't think anybody defended it, or cavitated it, or justified it in any way.

On the debt burden, no particular country was mentioned. But the debt burden was clearly mentioned, that yes, we have debt burdens. And you know, part of it was in terms of borrowings. But also, there was this concern, look, we are facing a liquidity crunch. This is affecting our trade. Today, we are under economic pressure. So it was a mix, really, of all of this. And also, you know, that we need more access to more windows of lending. I think that sentiment was there.

Jo aapka sawal jo tha Bangladesh wala, dekhiye jo Bangladesh ke Chief Adviser ne kaha woh toh mera uspe tippani karna ya mera uspe bolna uchit nahi hoga, unki sarkar ki or se jo bhi woh kahain woh aana chahiye. Par main itna hi kahunga ki ek toh unhone shuru kiya tha ki hamare Independence Day ke, kyu ki woh parso hi tha, toh unhone uske bare mein pahle greetings pe shuru kiya tha, phir unhone apni or se kaha ki duniya mei challanges hain, maane geopolitics ki hain, climate ki hain, COVID ki hain, aur phir apni sthiti, kyuki bahot saare log jo the woh duniya ke baare mei bhi baat kar rahe the aur apne desh mei jo hua hai ya unki apne rashtriya paripeksha se jo unko bolna tha woh bol rahe the. Toh unke yahan jo abhi jo ghatnaye hui hain, uska unhone apni aur se uska ek vivran diya.

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate translation] Regarding your question about Bangladesh, look, whatever the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh has said, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment on that. Whatever they say should come from their government. But I will say that he started by extending greetings for our Independence Day, as it was just on the day before yesterday. Then he mentioned that there are challenges in the world, whether it's about geopolitics, climate, or COVID. He then spoke about their situation, as many people were talking about global issues and also about what has happened in their own countries or what they needed to say from their national perspectives. So, he gave an account of the recent events in their country from his perspective.

So if I can, some sort of, give you a short English version of that. I was asked saying what did the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh say. I said it would not be appropriate for me to either comment on his remarks or to give a fuller description, but I would say he began by greeting the Prime Minister and India on Independence Day. And then in terms of the subject matter, he did refer to geopolitical challenges, to climate change as a very big concern, about the COVID issue. And then he spoke about the situation in Bangladesh, because it wasn't only him. Many other leaders also spoke about their national circumstances, apart from commenting on global issues. So I think what he said on national circumstances is better something which would come out of his own system rather than for me to talk about it.

Abhishek: Hi sir, this is Abhishek Jha from CNN News18. My question is, in the midst of these, especially these two geopolitical tensions, one is happening in the Middle-East and other in Russia and Ukraine, did that sentiment was also discussed when the Foreign Ministers were meeting, when the Foreign Ministers were discussing? And what was the sense that you could share with us?

Huma: Sir I am Huma Siddiqui from the Financial Express. In context of what the Prime Minister talked about, the better trade negotiations and development priorities, I just want to understand, in context of energy security, was the issue talked about India getting oil from Venezuela and Iran, because there are sanctions there? And my second question is, there are a lot of trade agreements that are being negotiated with some countries in the region, South American region. Was that also talked about?

Takashi: Good evening, sir. My name is Takashi Ishihara from Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. My question is, we have seen the three Voice of Global South Summits so far as of today. So how do you evaluate this virtual framework, and is there any possibility to host physical summit or meeting in the near future?

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister: Your question, Gaza and Ukraine, I would say quite a few people raised Gaza. Some did, in both the Leaders' and Foreign Ministers', mentioned Ukraine. But definitely Gaza, the references to Gaza were much more frequent than to Ukraine. And the thrust of it, I think, was really concern at the casualties, civilian casualties, and the sentiment was that the situation needs to go back to a ceasefire and to a negotiation. And I think that would be a fair characterization of a very broad range of sentiments.

On your question about India and oil, look, I mean, energy security came up, but we did not specifically raise our energy supplies vis-a-vis any other country. I must also say some countries did bring up sanctions, you know, did mention sanctions, some of them very sharply. So if you ask me, were sanctions mentioned? Yes. Was energy security, volatile markets discussed? Yes. But nobody actually said country A imports from country B or country C. You know, this kind of discussion was not conducive to that kind of detailing. There was no particular discussion about trade agreements with Latin America.

On the issue of Voice of Global South Summit, look, the last two Summits held last year were very, very useful in preparing for the New Delhi G20 Summit, because what it did was it enabled us, when we spoke to the G20, to say we have consulted 100 and something more countries, and this, after consultation, is their sentiment. So when we said we are speaking for many countries, you have to go through that exercise to establish you are indeed speaking for them. I think the current one, obviously, in terms of its timing, it is much more directly relatable to the Summit of the Future. But again, I would say there was a widespread sentiment today articulated by countries saying, look, this is very useful. You know, somebody in the global south needs to take that initiative. And we are very happy that India did it. And so there was a… everybody was for it, but not everybody maybe has the ability and the systems to pull it all together. So definitely, the fact that it happened was widely appreciated, widely commented upon. Nobody specifically spoke about a physical summit. That virtual versus physical never really came up in any discussion.

Rishikesh: Sir, Rishikesh from Press Trust of India, sir. So, has the matter of political interference in domestic affairs by global powers been brought up by the participants, especially Leaders or Foreign Ministers? And is there any expectation from them that PM Modi will raise this particular issue during his visit to US to take part in the Summit of the Future?

Sapna: Sir main Sapna, Sadhna Group se. Sir developments ko lekar is Summit mei baat ki gayi. Agar hum baat karte hain Bharat ki, lagatar apne aap ko majboot karne ki koshish kar raha hai antarrashtriya sthar par, aane wale paanch saalon mei aap kaha dekhte hain Bharat ko?

[Question in Hindi: Approximate translation] Sir, I am Sapna from Sadhna Group. Sir, development was discussed in this Summit. If we talk about India, which is continuously making efforts for strengthening itself on the international stage, where do you see India in the next five years?

Jacky: Jacky Martens from BBC. You spoke about the Global South having to play a role in democratizing global institutions, and particularly about UN reforms. It's been discussed for a while, but I think the current international crises means there's an increased call for that reform. Is there a proposal that's been taken forward to the UN of what that reform could look like?

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister: Okay. So I go to the first question. So was the issue of political interference raised? Yes. I think at the Leaders' level, definitely I can remember one, two people at least, bringing it up at the Foreign Ministers' level as well. So I think for many countries of the Global South, this is a concern. Now, the idea here was really more to hear each other out, draw from each other. What all PM would say when an opportunity provides itself, I think that is right now not something which we would comment on. So we will see closer to the time as and when his future engagements are concerned.

Jo aapka sawaal jo tha ki agle paanch saal mei Bharat apne apko kaise dekta hai. Dekhiye, humain toh lagta hai ki, ye toh hum jante hi hain ki, humain puri apeksha hai ki is dashak mei hum jarur tisre number pe honge, abhi duniya paanchve number pe hain economic..arthik kshamta ke anusar. Aur humain ye bhi lagta hai ki bahot saari chizain jo Bharat abhi kar raha hai, jaise abhi hum digital public infrastructure dekhte hain, 'India Stack' ki baat karte hain, UPI ki baat karte hain, ya agar aap hamari jo vyapar ke kshetra mei agar aap Bharat ka prabhav dekhain, agar aap aankde bhi dekhain toh hamari trade badhegi, hamari economy aur badhegi, hamara duniya mei influence badhega, hamari rajnitik paripekshya bhi aap keh sakte hain. Ab unka sawal tha, baad mei UN ki baat karenge hum. Toh main toh jarur kahunga ki humain pura vishwas hai ki ye aane wale dashak mei jo pragati pichle dus saal mei hui hai, ye badhta jayega, ye kam toh nahi hoga. Aur bahot saare kshetron mei leapfrogging ki sambhavna hai ki Bharat jo hai, kyuki technology ke madhyam se, jaise abhi AI ki log baat karte hain, toh AI mei bahot avsar hain ki ismei ab manufacturing mei badhna thoda aur kathin hai, AI mei ho sakta hai ki Bharat jo hai aur jald pragati kar sakta hai. Toh ye aatmavishwas Bharat mei aaj jarur hai, aur main ye bhi kahunga ki jo Global South ke desh jo hain, unki apeksha hai Bharat ke baare mei. Unko lagta hai ki ye aaj ek desh hai, duniya ke kareeb 80 deshon mei aaj hum project karte hai, unko lagta hai ki duniya mei, aur khaskar agal-bagal mei kuch ho jaye toh Bharat jo hai ek first responder ke roop mei madad karne ke liye jaldi aa jata hai. Toh Bharat se jo apeksha jo hai, woh badh rahi hai duniya mei, toh woh bhi hai, hamari kshamta jarur badhegi but kshamta ke sath jimmewari bhi badhegi apeksa bhi badhegi.

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate translation]Your question was about how India sees itself in the next five years. Look, we believe, and we know, we fully expect to be the third-largest economy in this decade. Currently, we are at fifth in terms of economic strength. We also believe that many things which India is currently doing-like our digital public infrastructure, 'India Stack', UPI, or if you look at India's impact in the area of trade, if you look at the numbers; our trade will increase, our economy will grow, our influence in the world will increase, and so will our political relevance, you could say. As her question was about the UN, which we will discuss later. But I would certainly say that we have full confidence that the progress made in the last ten years will continue in the coming decade; it will not go down. In many areas, there is potential for leapfrogging, particularly through the medium of technology. People talk about AI now, and there are many opportunities in AI, since growing in manufacturing is more difficult, India could grow quickly in AI. So, this self-confidence definitely exists in India today. I would also say that the countries of the Global South have expectations from India. They believe that India is such a country today… we have projects in about 80 countries around the world. And they feel that if something happens there, especially in the neighborhood, India is quick to come to help as 'first responder'. So, the expectations from India are increasing globally. Our capabilities will certainly increase, but with capabilities, responsibilities and expectations will also increase.

So, I was essentially saying that we see ourselves in the next decade, because that was broadly the question, as a country with greater capabilities, with greater responsibilities, with greater expectations from the Global South. And that was voiced today, that in many cases people specifically referred to experiences that they had with India, it could be a natural disaster or it could be a health collaboration or a development project. So, a lot of those examples were cited. So, we can see that the Global South does expect much more from India in the coming days.

So, your question on the UN reform, is there growing sentiment for UN reform? To me, absolutely. Is there a specific idea how to do it? I think there are many specific ideas. You know, different groups of countries have their own ideas. So, the exercise is to find a way of reconciling that to the best possible and then subjecting it to a democratic choice. Now, we are not going to get perfect unity among 190-odd countries in the world saying this is how we are going to go about it. Nor do we expect it. So, our view is, look, open it up, let everybody put forward their idea, and then give the membership of the UN the ability to make that choice. So, we believe today that there should be a negotiation, there should be a text-based negotiation, that whatever emerges from it, we are not saying it's necessarily something that has to agree with us. But, if really we believe in a democratic world order, then we think this 190-odd members should be allowed to vote about the future of the UN, like many of us vote about our respective futures. And we feel that process has been unduly and unfairly blocked. So, our striving is in that direction. We know that it is not without its challenges, but we continue to pursue it.

John: Thanks for the briefing, John Reed from the FT. I gather China did not take part in this Summit and in past Summits. Did India invite them? And if not, why not? Or could we get some comment on China's non-participation in the Summit? Thank you.

Chandrakala: Good evening, sir. This is Chandrakala from ETV Bharat. My question is quickly on Bangladesh. With the new interim government in place, how do you see the India-Bangladesh relations going further? Thank you.

Suhasini:Dr. Jaishankar, this is Suhasini Haidar from the Hindu. I've two questions just picking up on the UN reform. You've spoken about the need specifically for UNSC expansion, and Prime Minister in his Opening Remarks has said there should be something concrete that you take to the Summit of the Future. So, I just wanted to specifically ask if there will be some document that goes, this Compact, will there be a document that's going to be part of the Summit of the Future that goes from this? And since John asked about China, was Pakistan invited and was there a response?

Smita: Hi, Smita Sharma. I'm just trying to figure out what do you see as the future of the Summit moving forward? I mean, I understand you're exchanging ideas, but are you also looking at solutions in some sort of a way when you talk about the debt issues of the member countries? Is there an alternative mechanism that is being talked about? IPEF was announced in Quad, Indo-Pacific, didn't move around really. And B, was there any health collaboration proposals on Mpox outbreak currently, on the current situation there?

Dhairya: Good evening, sir. Dhairya Maheshwari from Sputnik, India. So, my question is in regards to… could you just sum up the concrete deliverables, particularly the financial ones that came out of this whole Summit?

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister:So, the first question, was China there? Answer is no. Underlying question, were they invited? Answer is no.

Second question, India, Bangladesh. I think the only relevant part, I have already spoken about, which were the sentiments expressed by the Chief Adviser in respect to the overall Summit. But India-Bangladesh relations, I think that gentleman will answer at his Press Conference.

The Summit of the Future, is there a document from this exercise, is there a document which goes there? No. There is a separate exercise of the Summit of the Future document which is going on. This exercise was much more in a way of finding common positions and the idea was to create that sense of coming together on a Compact. So I would say, I mean, clearly, in many ways, ideationally, there would be a carryover. But I think that exercise and this exercise are separate in a way.

On the Monkey-pox issue, no. There was no specific reference to anybody. I mean, there were references to health challenges which were not getting the priority kind of thing, but not specific in that sense. We weren't looking so much at financial… I mean, this was not a visit where you do say, okay, I have a list of deliverables to put before the world. This was more like a gathering of people around a set of themes who are exchanging ideas, taking, you know, mulling that between them, taking it forward, exactly as we did last year. Now, eventually, as you saw last year, all of that in some form or the other impacted the G20. So, we would certainly hope that in… because there are, I mean, it isn't just that we have New York and the U.N., you know, there are other conferences, there are biodiversity conferences, there are COPs. In fact, the next COP also came up for some discussion. So, I think many people, sort of, brought in ideas, bounced it off each other, partly reacted to something that somebody else said. And the idea was, okay, when we do our gathering, we will take that from here and feed it into that. I think that would be a fair play.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that, we come to the close of this Session. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Honorable External Affairs Minister to be with us this evening for this special session. And I would also like to thank all of you for participating in today's Special Briefing. Thank you very much.