Johannesburg: While addressing the G20 Summit, being hosted in Africa for the first time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday, called for a profound rethinking of global development parameters.
While the G20 has long shaped global finance and growth, prevailing models have deprived large populations of resources and driven the over-exploitation of nature, challenges felt acutely in Africa, the Indian Prime Minister said while addressing the session on ‘Inclusive and sustainable economic growth leaving no one behind’.
“Spoke at the first session of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, which focussed on inclusive and sustainable growth. With Africa hosting the G20 Summit for the first time, NOW is the right moment for us to revisit our development parameters and focus on growth that is inclusive and sustainable. India’s civilisational values, especially the principle of Integral Humanism offers a way forward,” PM Modi posted on X thereafter.
He outlined three path-breaking new initiatives. The first among these is the creation of a ‘Global Traditional Knowledge Repository’. As many communities across the world preserve eco-balanced, culturally rich, and socially cohesive ways of living, PM Modi proposed the creation of a ‘Global Traditional Knowledge Repository’ under the G20.
Such a repository will document and share traditional wisdom that demonstrates time-tested models of sustainable living, ensuring that this knowledge is carried forward to future generations. The Indian Knowledge Systems initiative can form the base for this platform, he said.
The second proposal was for a ‘G20-Africa Skills Multiplier Initiative’. Modi proposed this while stressing that Africa’s development is in the global interest.
The initiative will adopt a train-the-trainers model across sectors, supported and financed by all G20 partners. The collective target is to create one million certified trainers in Africa over the next decade, who will then help skill millions of young people, the Prime Minister said.
The third and extremely important proposal was the creation of a ‘G20 Initiative on Countering the Drug–Terror Nexus’.
PM Modi drew attention to the rapid spread of lethal synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and warned of their grave impact on public health, social stability, and global security.
He proposed a dedicated G20 Initiative on Countering the Drug–Terror Nexus, aimed at unifying financial, governance, and security tools. The initiative will help disrupt trafficking networks, choke illicit financial flows, and weaken the major funding source for terrorism.
