External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Friday, termed the United Nations ”a frozen 1945-invented mechanism” that was simply unable to articulate the wider concerns of its membership.

Some powers, he said, have been singularly focused on their own advantage, to the exclusion of the well-being of the international community.

Opening the foreign ministers’ session of the ”Voice of Global South Summit”, Jaishankar said recent global developments have added to the stresses and anxieties of the Global South. ”As it is, many were facing unsustainable debt, unviable projects, trade barriers, contracting financial flows and climate pressure. To this was added the devastation of the Covid pandemic and the discriminatory practices which characterised global response,” he said.

Jaishankar said this starkly exposed the dangers of over-centralised globalisation and unreliable supply chains. It was a reminder too that a more democratic and equitable world could only be built on greater diversification and localisation of capabilities.

If all that was not enough, he said, the knock-on effects of the Ukraine conflict further complicated the economic situation. The costs and availability of fuel, food and fertilizers have emerged as a major concern for many countries. So too has the disruption in trade and commercial services. However, none of this has got the attention that it deserved in global councils, he regretted.

Jaishankar was of the view that the Global South should work collectively towards a new globalisation paradigm which would be for the collective well-being of humankind, with a critical focus on vulnerable populations. The countries which constitute the Global South should work towards bringing down walls that young and talented people in these nations face in accessing opportunities around the world.

The Global South should make collective efforts to address the current challenges to food and energy security and ensure that the humanitarian needs of vulnerable communities are served without delay.

Noting that Prime Minister Modi has declared that this was not an era of war, Jaishankar said the Global South has always shown the middle path in the face of a deeply polarised world.

”The path where diplomacy, dialogue and cooperation take primacy over competition, conflict, and divisions. We all know that choosing peace, cooperation and multilateralism is a very patient endeavour that requires enormous bridge-building. Yet it is the course that the world must take if the interests of the Global South are kept at its core,” he added.