India's G20 presidency will reflect interests of global south, says Jaishankar

S Jaishankar said since 2014 there's been a different kind of approach to climate change in terms of India's policies, advocacies and energy mix.

New Delhi, Nov 29: India would like to use the presidency of G20 in many ways to reflect interests and concerns today of the global south, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said.

S Jaishankar said the country would like to use the presidency of G20 in many ways to reflect interests and concerns today of the global south as "we feel they're being sidelined and not just be a voice but would like to take into global south something we've tested and prepared at home." He made the remarks during a question-and-answer session at the seventh edition of the Global Technology Summit in New Delhi.

"Since 2014 there's been a different kind of approach to climate change in terms of our policies, advocacies, energy mix... When it comes to climate tech, India has a range of possibilities... There are Indian businesses in climate in COP now. We're actually already seeing the impact of climate events and climate change on politics. An example would be- the big debate today in Europe is if it will be able to survive the winter from the energy perspective," he added.

Earlier, S Jaishankar said that the rise of India is deeply linked with the rise of Indian technology and stated that "technology is no more neutral than economics."

Addressing a gathering at the seventh edition of the Global Technology Summit in New Delhi, S Jaishankar said that India has woken up to the key questions pertaining to the processing and harvesting of its data. "We people, especially in India in the last two years, have woken up to the fact, where does our data reside? Who processes and harvests our data and what do they do with it? That is a very very key question," ANI quoted the External Affairs Minister as saying.

The Global Technology Summit (GTS) is India's annual flagship event on Geotechnology, co-hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs and Carnegie India, and held annually since 2016. The 7th edition of the GTS will be held from 29 November to 01 December 2022 in New Delhi in hybrid format. The theme for this year's Summit is 'Geopolitics of Technology'.

Technology Today is at The Heart of Geopolitics
"Theme picked is timely as technology today is at the heart of geopolitics. You could argue that it was always so, whether it was nuclear, the internet or space, or AI if you look at quantum jumps in history, parallel with some time-lapse, quantum jumps in technology. It has led to a lot of policy outcomes," he stated.

According to him, national security decisions are taken using technology. "When we think today of the competitive politics sharper contradictions, I think we should be more and more cognisant that is going to be driven by technology or also be visible or be reflected in the technology debates," the minister added.

He pointed out that data is the new oil and technology is not neutral anymore. "We have to stop pretending that there is something neutral about technology. Technology is no more neutral than economics or any other activity. You may speak about whether its data or oil or data as the new oil -- the fact is more and more things are technologically driven and we need to understand that there is a very strong political connotation that is inbuilt into technology," the External Affairs Minister added.

The seventh edition of the Global Technology Summit will have the participation of the World's leading minds in technology, government, security, space, startups, data, law and public health, climate change, academics, economy, according to a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs.

More than 5000 participants from all over the World have registered to attend the Summit. Many thousands have accessed the GTS website. A large number of participants would be joining the conversations through the GTS Summit website and Carnegie India's YouTube and social media pages.