Opening Remarks by Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal at the Commerce/Trade Ministers’ Session of the 2nd Voice of Global South Summit (November 17, 2023)
Excellencies,
We are here today at the 2nd virtual Voice of the Global South Summit. In this session, with the theme ‘Global South and Resilient Supply Chains’, we would like to discuss ways and means for countries of the Global South to cooperate and act together to make our supply chains open, secure, trusted, stable and equitable, thereby making them more resilient. A very warm welcome to all my esteemed colleagues from around the globe, from the Global South.
The polycrisis of COVID-19 pandemic, impact of climate change and raging geopolitical tensions have disrupted and underscored the fragility of global supply chains. These disruptions have created monumental challenges of food and energy security, cost of living and achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has rightly pointed out that most of the global challenges have not been created by the Global South, but they affect us more. He has further underscored the need for our collective voice to be heard whenever and wherever the world looks for solutions to global challenges.
Friends,
India successfully hosted the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September under the theme ‘One Earth, One Family and One Future’, with the support of the Global South. During its Presidency, India made strong interventions in strengthening the voice of the Global South, including by making the African Union a permanent member of the Grouping and by galvanising concrete action-oriented G20 outcomes for the Global South. We are indeed very, very proud that the African Union will be a part of the G20 permanently and we warmly welcome and compliment them. It is necessary to make further efforts to strengthen the voice of the Global South and to come together for our and humanity's future.
During the 1st Voice of the Global South Summit earlier this year, we had discussed means for the Global South to forge new partnerships for building resilient supply chains and increasing trade and investment. It was in furtherance of this objective that during India's G20 Presidency, the G20 Generic Framework for Mapping Global Value Chains was adopted to make GVCs resilient and inclusive. This Framework has been prepared, keeping in mind how countries of the Global South could not only become an integral part of world's GVCs but also move up the value chain to generate more prosperity for the people. The Framework promotes transparency and confidence amongst all stakeholders, as well as allows anticipation and estimation of potential risks embedded within value chains. The key building blocks of the Framework are data, analysis and representation. By incorporating these building blocks, the Framework can help in the identification of sectors and products critical to GVC resilience for each of the countries. I urge upon all participating countries to adopt this Mapping Framework as they undertake an exercise to assess vulnerabilities in their GVCs, both at the sector and product level, as well as identify opportunities that will open up for all of us.
This framework, once implemented, has the potential to address four key concerns related to resilience and inclusivity with respect to the Global South. A, the first is to identify global value chains, where each of the countries could focus on not only increasing their participation but also improving the quality of their participation by moving up the value chain. This will help them to partake larger share of high value-added parts of the GVCs. Secondly, it will help GVCs to withstand both natural and man-made shocks. Thirdly, better integration of our micro, small and medium enterprises in international markets and trade. Finally, it will help us to visualize gaps in our logistics infrastructure. The filling up of these critical gaps would help further integration and participation of the Global South in global trade.
My dear colleagues,
If we work together on this, we could accelerate transformative impact that South-South trade can have in the overall growth and prosperity and also specifically on achieving Sustainable Development Goals. For example, the phenomenal nine-fold increase in South-South trade from US$ 600 billion in 1995 to US$ 5.3 trillion in 2021 had a major impact on economic growth and resilience of many countries.
I am further happy to share that during the Indian Presidency, the G20 has also recognized the importance of the WTO's Aid for Trade initiative for enabling developing countries, notably less developed countries, to effectively participate in global trade, including through enhanced local value creation. Due to India's sustained efforts, the G20 also called upon enhanced mobilization of necessary resources in this regard. We, with the support of all our dear friends from the Global South, will keep pursuing this at the WTO for effective implementation. The G20, under India's Presidency, has brought out the G20 Framework for Systems of Digital Public Infrastructure. This recognizes the role of DPIs in the delivery of services at the societal level for the people directly.
We are also pursuing use of modern technology for enhancing fair and equitable global trade. In this regard, the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration focuses on two aspects; first, Excellencies, realizing the importance of MSMEs and the role they play in our economies. We have identified access to trade-related information and access to market as the major challenges faced by our countries in our efforts to internationalize our economy. Due to inadequate access to information, MSMEs often are unable to identify potential markets. They have limited knowledge about business opportunities, customers, competitors, distribution procedures, local rules and regulations, and taxation. As a result, they are unable to exploit market opportunities that require large volumes, consistent quality, homogeneous standards, and regular supply. Under the Indian G20 Presidency, a Jaipur Call for Action to enhance the MSME's access to information has been adopted. It envisages upgradation of international trade centers, Global Trade Helpdesk, the portal which will work as a one-stop hub for MSMEs seeking business and trade-related information. I urge all participating countries to partner in this initiative to better integrate their MSMEs in global trade.
Secondly, we focused on trade cost reductions by increasing digitalization of trade documents. It is seen that irrespective of digitalization of documents for domestic purposes, documents critical for international trade are still not digitalized as much. Implementation of electronic Bill of Lading, a vital document for enabling smoother international trade, can itself lead to savings of nearly $6.5 billion in direct costs. In this regard, the G20 has adopted 10 high-level principles for digitalization of trade documents. These principles lay the roadmap for eventual transition and adoption of a widespread paperless trading system globally. This can sustainably benefit all of the developing countries by reducing the cost of doing trade.
Excellencies,
We are in the midst of a massive global shift in the way work is being done and how it will be done in the future. The future of work will be determined by Industry 4.0, energy transition and new age technologies. These are bringing changes at the workplace and the workforce level. We are witnessing a paradigm shift. Under our Presidency, we have built a consensus on how this challenge is handled in an inclusive and equitable manner. To ensure the same, it is important that countries of the Global South collaborate in technical education, research and development, deployment of technology and related services. This South-South collaboration can strengthen the foundation of future trade, including in technology and services.
As the theme of the Summit emphasizes, it is the time for countries of the Global South to build partnerships based on trust and mutual respect, leveraging each other's strengths and capabilities. I now look forward to listening to all of you on the actions that we can take jointly for accomplishing our shared goals on building resilient and inclusive supply chains.
Thank you. Namaste.