Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, May 31: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday highlighted India’s extensive global development efforts, revealing that the country has initiated over 600 development projects in 78 nations across multiple continents. Speaking at the Parul University Convocation in Vadodara, Gujarat, Jaishankar emphasized India’s commitment to global goodwill despite being a developing country with limited resources.
“Even while taking care of its own, India supplied vaccines to 99 nations and medicines to 150 during the COVID pandemic,” he said, underlining India’s role in supporting the Global South.
Jaishankar detailed India’s dual approach to international development — sharing relevant domestic experiences with partner countries and strengthening their capacity for self-reliance. This strategy, he explained, empowers partner nations with better options and stronger negotiating power globally.
Highlighting flagship initiatives, Jaishankar noted the export of India’s Jal Jeevan Mission to countries like Tanzania, Mozambique, the Maldives, and Malawi, and the deployment of electricity transmission expertise in Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Benin, and Gambia.
He also touched upon broader global challenges, including health security exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, energy vulnerabilities revealed by the Ukraine conflict, worsening debt and trade prospects, and escalating climate change pressures.
“Each one of us, in whatever we do, can find some way of making a difference,” he urged, calling for greater awareness of humanity’s shared challenges.