'Global South Centre of Excellence' among slew of initiatives announced by PM Modi at Voice of Global South Summit

India will establish a 'Global-South Center of Excellence', Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday.

Unveiling a slew of initiatives in his opening remarks at the Concluding Leaders’ Session of the Voice of Global South Summit, he said this institution will undertake research on development solutions or best-practices of any of our countries. These can be scaled and implemented in other members of the Global South, he added.

As an example, Prime Minister Modi cited the digital public goods developed by India in fields like electronic-payments, health, education, or e-governance, which can be useful for many other developing countries.

According to Prime Minister Modi, countries of the Global South have a lot to learn from each other’s development experiences.

"In its development partnerships, India’s approach has been consultative, outcome oriented, demand driven, people-centric, and respectful of the sovereignty of partner countries," he explained.

Highlighting the great strides made by the country in areas like space technology and nuclear energy, the Prime Minister also announced the launch of a ‘Global-South Science & Technology initiative’ to share India's expertise with other developing nations.

Prime Minister Modi recalled the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative under which made-in-India vaccines were supplied to over a 100 nations during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Taking this forward, he announced a new ‘Aarogya Maitri’ project. Under this project, India will provide essential medical supplies to any developing country affected by natural disasters or humanitarian crisis.

Additionally, for synergising their diplomatic voice, Prime Minister Modi proposed a ‘Global-South Young Diplomats Forum’, "to connect youthful officers of our foreign ministries".

India will also institute ‘Global-South Scholarships’ for students from developing countries to pursue higher education in India, he added.