NEW DELHI, JANUARY 07 :

India will host a virtual summit of over 120 developing countries next week to share their economic woes in deliberations during its G-20 presidency this year, a top foreign ministry official said Friday.

The summit on Jan. 12 and 13 will take up key issues such as the worldwide impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the ongoing conflict in Ukraine decreasing access and affordability of food, fertilizer and fuel; and mounting debt and inflationary pressures taking a toll on developing countries’ economies, said Vinay Kwatra, the top bureaucrat of India’s foreign ministry.

India endeavors, he said, to provide a common platform to deliberate on the concerns, interests and priorities of developing countries and exchange ideas and solutions to various problems.

“India will work to ensure that the valuable inputs generated from partner countries receive due cognizance globally,” he said.

Steering the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations’ summit in 2023, India is expected to use the opportunity to gain prominence in global decision-making.

Asked whether India’s long-time rivals China and Pakistan will be participating in the summit, Kwatra told reporters that invitations are being extended to more than 120 countries and his ministry would provide names after participation is confirmed.

He also rejected a suggestion that “The Voice of Global South Summit” next week implies India is moving away from old associations like the Non-Aligned Movement, a coalition of mostly developing countries. India was a founding member in the early 1960s of NAM, which was not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

ASSOCIATED PRESS