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www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know Global Affairs News India Times (October 26 - November 1, 2024) November 1, 2024 5 BRICS Should Not Become Anti-West Group, India Has Important Role To Play: TS Tirumurti No Country, US Far Away Or China Very Close To US, Can Ignore India: Nirmala Sitharaman -NEW DELHI F ormer diplomat and international affairs expert TS Tirumurti has said that India has a very important role to play in BRICS and the forum should not become an “anti-West group”. Tirumurti, a former Permanent Repre- sentative of India to the United Nations, told ANI that India has a stabilizing role in a world that is seeing geo-political ten- sions. “I think India has a very important role to play in BRICS. And I think BRICS itself has reached a very crucial juncture. It has had its ups and downs, but now we have expanded BRICS and we are also looking at partner countries,. So the role of India becomes even more important. The most important role we can play right now is to make sure that BRICS do not become an anti-west group. It is a non-West group, but it should not become an anti-West group because there are other things playing out in the rest of the world,” he said. So I think India can play that stabiliz- ing role through its contribution to make sure that, and we have played that role in Ukraine… I think thanks to our digital prowess, and our UPI, I think we have an important role to play,” he added. He praised PMModi’s efforts towards strengthening BRICS. Tirumurti also said that the western countries should be able to work with BRICS. PMModi reached Russia on Tuesday and had bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran Presi- dent Masoud Pezeshkian. In his pre-departure statement, PM Modi said that India values the close cooperation within BRICS which has emerged as an important platform for dialogue and discussion on issues con- cerning the global developmental agenda, reformed multilateralism, climate change, economic cooperation, building resilient supply chains, promoting cultural and people to people connect, among others. He said expansion of BRICS with the addition of new members last year has added to its inclusivity and agenda for the global good.” -ANI -NEW DELHI U nion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India wants to enhance its influence in the world as one in every six persons is Indian and the world cannot ignore India’s economy. While participating in a panel discus- sion on the ‘BrettonWoods Institutions at 80: Priorities for the Next Decade’, orga- nized by the Center for Global Develop- ment on the sidelines of theWorld Bank and International Annual Meetings 2024 inWashington, DC, Sitharaman stated that no country, whether US which is far away or China which is very close cannot ignore India. When asked how nations like India and other big emerging markets step up and play a role that helps to take owner- ship of that process and drive the reform forward, Sitharaman said, “Yes, absolutely possible. And on this, I just want to again start from where a thought of my Prime Minister came in and this is well thought through. He once said India’s priority is not to impose its dominance. In the sense we have the biggest democracy, we have in the world, the largest population but to enhance its influence. Now why do we want to have our influence enhanced? It’s only because the fact that today one in every six person in the world is an Indian and you just cannot ignore our economy and the way in which it is growing, that’s the second.” “And third, the skilled manpower which today is in India and also everywhere else running large corporations which are for running institutions which are in large countries, developed countries. But yet that particular point that Larry men- tioned, that in today’s world, the course which developed countries took, starting from producing textiles, cycles, bicycles and something else, and reaching devel- opment, is no longer available. It is going to be something else,” she added. Stressing that no country can ignore India, Union Finance Minister stated, “Are we in a position to define that path? In that, one flag post which I want to draw your attention to about India and its role is leading on technology, servicing through technology, leveraging technol- ogy and that is where when you look at Indians everywhere you are saying that they are the ones before sitting and readily saying yes we will give you the systems which can run complex corporate whether it is a refining system, oil refining system, whether it is multilateral banking system or anything else. So, you really can’t ignore and also the geopolitical neighborhood in which we live. No country, the US which is very far away from us or China which is very close to us, cannot (sic) ignore us.” Sitharaman stated that India has always backed multilateral institutions and did not at any time seek to undermine any multilateral institution. She said that ex- pectations pinned on multilateral institu- tions are fissured away as no solutions are coming out of them. Expressing India’s support for multi- lateral institutions, the Union Minister said, “I think we have followed policies of strategic and peaceful multilateralism. The multilateralism of which you want us to speak about. India has always stood in favour of multilateral institutions. We didn’t want any time undermining of any multilateral institution. But progressively we see the hope and the expectations which are pinned on multilateral institu- tions are fissured away because we think no solutions are coming out of them.” “So again, Larry said, these institutions now are not offering an alternative path- way. That is where one of my points is, the core competencies of these institutions, in that they look at so many different econo- mies, look at the dynamism with which some economies are growing and some which are getting stunted, the informa- tion base that they have, they should be the first ones to share the information and they should be the first ones to also sug- gest without imposing,” she added. Other panelists during the discussions included Emeritus President and Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University, Lawrence H Summers, Spain’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Business Carlos Cuerpo and Egypt’s Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Rania A. Al Mashat. Sitharaman stressed that multilateral institutions should strengthen themselves for the global good. She said that shaping the future is an ambitious goal and called for the involvement of BrettonWoods institutions in it. She said, “In one of my earlier conver- sations with Larry, he voiced the concern, saying how would institutions like IMF and theWorld Bank go about telling an economy to a country that your economy is in a wretched position, you can’t do anything about it. They can’t, they cannot and they need not.” “But yet, they can, with a wealth of information and experience and the manpower, the kind of human resources they have, share in time information with countries and also lead to build the strength of institutions, not tear down institutions, but strengthen up institutions for the global good, which I would think is very necessary to strengthen multilateral- ism. We are in favor of multilateralism. We of course spoke about a lot of things about …, LiFE, which is a mission in India, LiFE being the lifestyle for environment, adapt to certain kinds of living and so on,” she added. Stressing the BrettonWoods institu- tions role in shaping the future, the Union Finance Minister said, “Shaping the future is one very ambitious nice goal and we need to follow that and we need to have BrettonWoods institutions work on that rather than reacting to future develop- ments. Unfortunately, in the last few decades, we see them reacting to future developments with the strength that they have. And I think, therefore, information sharing is one thing.” The BrettonWoods Institutions are theWorld Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They were set up at a meeting of 43 countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in the US in July 1944. Their aims were to help rebuild the shattered postwar economy and promote international economic cooperation. In her remarks, Sitharaman said, “India, of course, has International Solar Alliance, Biofuel Alliance, and we’re talking about disaster-resilient infrastructure and all these need money. All these need help for countries which are in smaller economies, island economies, which need them. So, through the digital public infrastructure that we have publicly funded and taken it up to different countries, we are spreading that attention and I think these are areas in which India will contribute.” Sitharaman also metWorld Bank Presi- dent Ajay Banga, and the two discussed issues related to private capital participa- tion in Global Public Goods, Energy secu- rity, and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) reforms. Sitharaman said that she is looking forward to theWorld Bank tak- ing forward the Independent Evaluation Group’s (IEG) recommendations on MDBs reforms from India’s G20 Presidency. Nirmala Sitharaman arrived inWash- ington, DC onWednesday, Oct. 23, 2024,. India’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Kwatra, welcomed her inWashington, DC. Prior to visitingWashington, DC, Sithara- man was in NewYork. While in the tri-state area, Minister Sitharam participated in roundtables in NewYork and Pennsylvania, to discuss India being attractive for foreign investors. At Columbia University, Sitharaman as- serted that the future of global economic growth will be shaped by strategic part- nerships rather than traditional multilat- eral trade, and India is well poised to take advantage of the global transition. -ANI Photo:Courtesyfamily Photo:Screengrab from Oct.23,2024 poston X @ANI TS Tirumurti India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, gestures while speaking in Washington, D.C. at the ‘Bretton Woods at 80: Priorities for the Next Decade’ discussions during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Annual meetings.