India’s priority is not to assert its dominance but to increase its influence, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, saying that no country, be it the US or China, can ignore New Delhi today.
Mrs. Sitharaman made the comments on Wednesday (October 23, 2024) during a panel discussion on “Bretton Woods at 80: Priorities for the Next Decade” organized by the Center for Global Development in Washington.
The minister arrived in Washington on Tuesday to attend the annual meeting of the Bretton Woods Institutions – International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
“India’s priority is not to impose dominance, because we are the largest democracy in the world, the largest population, but to increase its influence,” he said.
Pointing out that one in every six people in the world is an Indian, he said, “You cannot ignore the economy and the way it has grown.”
Mrs. Sitharaman stressed that the course that developed countries are taking, from producing textiles, cycles, bicycles, etc., and achieving development, “is no longer available”.
When asked if India is in a position to determine that path, he talked about the country’s leading role in technology and how India has a system to open complex set-up companies.
“You really can’t ignore it. Also, the geopolitical environment in which we live. No country, the US, which is so far from us, or China, which is so close to us, can ignore us,” he said.
During the discussion, he said that India always “follows multilateral institutions” and added that it follows a policy of “strategic and peaceful multilateralism”.
However, he stressed that multilateral institutions have failed to produce viable solutions.
“We don’t want time to destroy multilateral institutions. But progressively, we see the hopes and expectations embedded in multilateral institutions have disappeared because we think there is no solution that will work,” he said.
“The institution currently does not offer alternative pathways,” he added.
He said that multinational institutions, with a lot of information and experience, manpower, and human resources, should strengthen institutions for the global good, which is “absolutely necessary” to strengthen multilateralism.
“We support multilateralism,” added Ms. Sitharaman.
He stressed that the Bretton Woods institutions should work towards this, rather than reacting to future developments.
“Unfortunately, in the last few decades, we have seen them react to future developments with the power they have. So, information sharing is one,” he said.
“India, of course, has an international solar alliance and a biofuel alliance, and we are talking about disaster-resistant infrastructure. All this needs money. All this needs help for countries that are in small economies, island economies, that need it,” he said.
“So, through public digital infrastructure that is publicly funded and brought to various countries, we spread that attention. This is an area where India will contribute,” said the Finance Minister.
At a separate roundtable in Washington, Ms. Sitharaman said that India has created the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) to transform its infrastructure system to withstand natural disasters and adapt to climate change.
Chairing the Roundtable on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, he highlighted the dangers of underdeveloped development by increasing climate-related risks to infrastructure and the critical services it supports.
Mrs. Sitharaman said that over the years, India has ensured sustainable economic growth by not only investing in hard infrastructure but also in building institutional capacity through the creation of national and state-level Disaster Management Agencies.
Assuring India’s commitment to share best practices in this journey of building resilience, the Union Finance Minister extended assistance to the Global South for shared challenges. He said India looks forward to working with Africa and other developing countries to strengthen infrastructure resilience.
He added that under India’s G20 Presidency, the Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group was created to increase commitment to disaster and climate resilient infrastructure and prioritize a stronger national financial framework for disaster risk reduction.
The Minister also participated in the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR).
In his intervention, he emphasized improving timeliness, transparency and predictability, ensuring comparability of care among creditors and prioritizing coordinated efforts to ensure low-cost, long-term financing and providing targeted technical assistance to strengthen fiscal capacity to build resilience in vulnerable countries .
Ms. Sitharaman called for deeper dialogue to help countries meet their debt obligations without compromising critical investments. He also cautioned against contingency financing instruments as they could result in deferred liabilities, which could increase debt challenges in the future.
He advocated using the GSDR’s informal platform to better understand the perspectives of all parties, address concerns and provide guidance to countries on the risks and benefits of the instrument.
Published – 24 October 2024 13:50 IST
