New York [US], September 24 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday (local time) said that India will be a partner, contributor and collaborator on how to address development challenges. He said that India has endeavoured to walk the talk when it comes to South-South cooperation.

While addressing the India-UN for Global South: Delivering for Development in New York, Jaishankar called the inclusion of the African Union in the G20 as one of the important outcomes of the G20 Summit.

He said that India's experiences of the G20 Presidency will be placed before everyone in a "spirit of sharing." "While we are, of course, the G20 president till the end of this year, both before the G20 presidency and certainly after it, we will remain very much a partner, a contributor, a collaborator in our own way, perhaps an inspiration to others on how to address developmental challenges. Our experiences and our achievements be placed before you in a spirit really of sharing," Jaishankar said at India-UN for Global South: Delivering for Development.

"We know that there may be aspects of it which you may find useful from, as Ambassador Kamboj mentioned, that we are today active in almost 80 countries around the world. And what I can say is that when it has come to South-South cooperation, we have endeavoured to walk the talk. My remarks on this subject would, of course, not be complete without my underlining what I believe was one of the really important outcomes of the G20, which was the membership of the African Union. And certainly, it is our hope that that message would resonate not just in the G20, but beyond them as well," he added.

He emphasised that geopolitical calculations and geopolitical contests today are affecting the very basic requirements of many nations, including their affordable access to food, fertilizers and energy.

"With each passing day, in fact, it has become clearer to us that today geopolitical calculations and geopolitical contests are impacting very basic requirements of many countries, including their affordable access to food, to fertilizers and to energy," Jaishankar said.

"It was therefore, for us a particularly onerous responsibility to make sure that in collaboration with all our G20 members, we were able to refocus the G20 on the urgent depressing needs of the Global South and this was reflected in my mind in eight key outcomes of the New Delhi G20 Summit - the action plan for sustainable Development Goals, the reform of international financial institutions, a Green development Pact, the high principles for Life the Lifestyle for Environment Initiative, an understanding on debt management, a consensus on woman-led development, an acceptance of digital public infrastructure and an agreement to undertake global skills mapping," he added.

He said that the G20 Summit held in India laid the foundation for the international community to look at the development prospects.

"We do believe that the New Delhi summit of the G20 has in many ways laid the foundation for the international community really to look at its development prospects, hopefully with greater optimism, certainly in our expectation, with more resources, and that the decade ahead would allow us really to overcome the challenges that we have all experienced over the last few years," Jaishankar said.

Jaishankar called India's G20 Presidency challenging due to a "very sharp East-West polarization and a "very deep North-South divide." He said that India was very determined to ensure that India's G20 Presidency was able to get back to its core agenda.

"Your presence means a lot to us. It also expresses the sentiments that you feel for India and underlines the import of South-South cooperation. We meet just a few weeks after the New Delhi G20 Summit, a summit which took place on the theme of 'One Earth, One Family, One Future,'" Jaishankar said.

"Now, it was a challenging summit. It was actually a challenging presidency, and it was challenging because we were confronting a very sharp East-West polarization as well as a very deep North-South divide. But we were very determined as the Presidency of the G20 to make sure that this organization on which the world really had put so much hope and was able to get back to its core agenda," he added.

Earlier, Ruchira Kamboj, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations said, "...As far as India is concerned, our engagement with the Global South is not just a matter of policy, it is ingrained in the very fabric of our culture and philosophy. Earlier this month, the G20 New Delhi leaders' declaration reinforced our commitment to the comprehensive development of fellow developing nations."In her address at the at India-UN for Global South: Delivering for Development, Kamboj recalled that India had during the COVID-19 pandemic extended a helping hand by providing made-in-India vaccines to nearly 100 countries and supplying medicines to 150 nations.

(ANI)