External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday that while the globe is becoming more diverse and multipolar, older, industrialized nations remain primary investment targets.
Speaking during the silver jubilee celebrations of the Aditya Birla Group’s Scholarships programme in Mumbai, S Jaishankar stated that while many countries are concerned about the United States with the return of Donald Trump as President, India is not one of them.
“Yes, there is a shift. We are ourselves an example of the shift… if you look at our economic weight, you look at our economic ranking, you look at even Indian corporates, their reach, their presence, Indian professionals, which I spoke about. So no question there is a rebalancing,” S Jaishankar said in response to a question on the reset in the global power dynamic that was playing out amid the shift in the balance of power from the west to the east.
“And to my mind, it was inevitable,” he said, adding, “because once these countries after the colonial period got their independence, they started making their own policy choices, then they were bound to grow.” “The part which is not inevitable is that some grew faster, some grew slower, some grew better, and there the quality of governance and the quality of leadership came in. So, there is, in a sense, therefore, the constant and the variable.
“There is a trend towards a more diverse, multipolar world. But there is also, you know, a period when countries really surge ahead. I mean, it’s like what happened in the corporate world as well.” He, however, said the industrialised economies in the west cannot be ignored and remain prime investment targets.
“But do remember one thing, the older, the western economies, the older industrialised economies, they have not gone away. They still count, they are still prime investment targets. They are big markets, strong technology centres, hubs for innovation. So let’s recognise the shift, but let’s not get carried away and kind of overstate it and distort our own understanding of the world,” the minister said.
Speaking on the India-US relationship and Trump’s win, he said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first three calls, I think, that President (elect) Trump took.” India and Prime Minister Modi have built rapport with multiple presidents, he said.
“For him (PM Modi) there’s something natural in terms of how he forges those relationships. So that’s helped hugely. And I think the changes in India have helped as well,” he said, when asked how he sees the US presidential election outcome impacting India-US ties, especially given PM Modi’s strong personal rapport with the US President-elect.
“I know today a lot of countries are nervous about the US, let’s be honest about it. We are not one of them,” S Jaishankar said.
Earlier, Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said investment in talent is what shapes the future, and emphasised that with the scholarship programme, “we were driven by the ambition to create a cadre of handpicked leaders who would excel in India and also represent our country abroad”.
The course collaborates with 22 prestigious institutions, including elite IITS, BITS Pilani, prominent IIMS, XLRI, and national law schools.
Over the course of 25 years, a team of professionals has examined over 10,000 applications while remaining committed to excellence and diversity. According to the organization, there are now 781 Aditya Birla Scholars studying engineering, management, and law.
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Source: NDTV
