New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on Friday informed that India has undertaken more than 600 development projects in 78 nations across various continents.

“Our resources may be limited, but India has always had a large heart. And that is why, still being a developing country, we have undertaken more than 600 development projects in 78 nations across various continents,” said EAM Jaishankar while addressing the Parul University Convocation in Gujarat’s Vadodara.

He emphasised that for that very reason, even while India was in the midst of taking care of its own, the country was able to supply vaccines to 99 nations and medicines to 150 during the COVID pandemic.

“When we advocate the interests of the Global South, it is for a reason that only a member of that fraternity can appreciate. Doing the right thing is also doing the smart thing,” he said.

During his address, EAM Jaishankar said that India’s endeavour, even while building on bonds of proximity, sociology and heritage, has been to promote goodwill through development.

“To that end, we have utilised two broad approaches that drive our activities abroad. One is to share our experiences in a very concrete manner with partners, conscious that they are probably more relevant to their needs than those that our partners could access elsewhere. The other is to continuously strengthen capacity building, so that partners have a better ability to evaluate and make their own choices. Together, what it does is to give our partner countries, especially those of the Global South, more options as well as a stronger hand in negotiating with others in the world,” he said.

EAM Jaishankar further added that the Jal Jeevan Mission has been a flagship initiative of the Modi government. “Now, if you look abroad, that very objective has been executed by us in a major way in Tanzania, in Mozambique, in the Maldives and in Malawi. Or take electricity and its efficient transmission. Capabilities developed at home are being deployed today in Bhutan, in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Benin and Gambia,” he said.

He said that there are other pressing challenges too faced by the world, especially by India’s partners of the Global South.

“We all realised during the COVID pandemic how much our health security was dependent on others,” he said.

EAM Jaishankar said that the Ukraine conflict brought home the vulnerabilities of energy security, adding that the shortage of fertilisers and the scarcity of food grains left many economies deeply impacted.

“Debt situations have worsened even as trade prospects deteriorated in the face of financial decisions taken far away. And through all this, the pressures of climate change have grown steadily, although the resources to combat them have shrunk. I highlight these concerns not to alarm you, but to urge an awareness and understanding of the larger challenges faced by humanity. Each one of us, in whatever we do, can find some way of making a difference,” he said.

–IANS

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