India’s Global Development Compact will boost voice of Global South

At the recently concluded third Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS), Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed a comprehensive ‘Global Development Compact’. More than 120 countries participated in various sessions at the virtual summit. Modi emphasised that this compact would be shaped by India's own development journey and its experiences in development co-operation with fellow developing countries, while being guided by the development priorities of the Global South.

Today's Global South is vastly different from the earlier groupings of poor developing countries. It now includes economic, political, and strategic heavyweights. Some of the most significant members are now part of BRICS. The leadership of the Global South is contested. So, three VOGSSs have helped India to showcase its strengths in terms of capacities and ideas. 

While some anti-West rhetoric persists in the Global South, a positive, non-West agenda could be far more effective in advancing the goals of developing countries. In this context, proposing a new ‘Global Development Compact’ could be India's way of expressing the contemporary priorities of the Global South.

In the earlier decades, Indian scholars and policymakers made significant contributions to the development of the concept of South-South Cooperation (SSC). Many ideas were developed around solidarity among developing countries. India played an important role in the development of the SSC within the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77 (G77), and the United Nations. The establishment of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and declaration of New International Economic Order (NIEO) were clear manifestations of these aspirations.

A distinct dimension of development co-operation is now increasingly becoming part of the SSC, especially as countries like India and China emerge as significant providers of development finance. However, in the changing global geopolitics, incorporating these activities within the framework of the SSC has become more challenging. This complexity is evident with the rise of new groupings such as the BRICS, IBSA, and the G20. While some of the discussions within these groups do reflect the principles of the SSC, they also involve elements of new power projection towards the North, and also towards small developing nations.

Modi now emphasizes that the new 'Global Development Compact' will be “human-centric, multi-dimensional, and promote a multi-sectoral approach to development”. This initiative reflects India's experience in development co-operation, including capacity-building programmes, lines of credit, grant-assisted projects, trade and investment concessions, and technology transfers. The compact will ensure that development and infrastructure financing will not impose a debt burden on developing countries.

DAKSHIN — a Global South Centre of Excellence — has already been established by India and started working in the areas of capacity building and knowledge sharing. With an initial contribution of $25 million, New Delhi has proposed a global social impact fund to spread Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in the Global South. 

A special fund of $2.5 million has also been announced to boost trade promotion activities in developing countries. A separate funding for training programme to trade policy and trade negotiation capacity building for the developing countries will also be made available.

Moving beyond the traditional North-South and South-South frameworks, many countries in the Global South are now engaging in triangular co-operation projects. In this approach, the SSC initiatives are carried out with the support of a Northern partner.

Indian policymakers have argued that the earlier two VOGSS  helped India's G20 presidency prioritise issues concerning the Global South, including African Union membership in the grouping. Similarly, the third summit could aid in collectively expressing the Global South's aspirations at the upcoming Summit of the Future in New York next month.

The New York summit is likely to produce a negotiated Pact for the Future with specific chapters on sustainable development, financing for development, peace and security, science, technology and innovation, digital co-operation; transforming global governance, etc. It may also produce a global digital compact. So, some of the ideas discussed at the VOGSS could be useful in negotiations for the Pact for the Future. 

Overall, the concept of a 'Global Development Compact' represents India's effort to shape the global development architecture, integrating perspectives from both the North and the South, in a way that benefits the majority of Global South countries.

(Gulshan Sachdeva is Professor at the Centre for European Studies and Coordinator, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, Jawaharlal Nehru University.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.