India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday (November 26), said any serious connectivity initiative with regards to China’s Belt and Road Initiative must be based upon consultative, transparent, and participatory, and conform to principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Jaishankar was addressing the 20th Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of Government, and he said, India is an emerging economic force at the global level despite the economic devastation caused by COVID-19, and India’s strong response in fighting the pandemic and ensuring economic stability must be noted and greater connectivity is an economic force-multiplier which has acquired greater salience in the post-Covid era.
“However, any serious connectivity initiative must be consultative, transparent, and participatory. It must conform to the most basic principle of international law – respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Jaishankar said.
“We have also proposed to include the Chabahar port in the framework of International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). I would like to reaffirm India’s commitment to cooperate, plan, invest and build physical and digital connectivity in the SCO region,” he said.
“This is the time to bring in much-needed reforms to our global institutions, including the WHO, and rework our development strategies to face a post-COVID-19 world. For this, we need a Reformed and Reinvigorated Multilateralism that reflects today’s realities, which gives voice to all stakeholders, addresses contemporary challenges and puts human beings at the center of our thought and policies,” he said.
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