India Will Soon Be 3rd Largest Economy, Its Digitalisation Can Inspire Others: WEF Prez Lauds PM Modi for Including Voices of Global South

World Economic Forum president Børge Brende, speaking exclusively to CNN-News18 on the sidelines of the G20 summit, lauded India’s “special growth situation” and “digitalisation”, and the steps it has taken to include voices of the Global South in G20 during its presidency.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India have taken important steps in G20 meeting to include all important voices from the Global South. India has also made African Union a permanent member of the G20, something that is very timely… G20 is today a picture of 20 large economies in the world today, but many emerging economies and developing countries are moving very very fast up the ladder,” Brende said.

“We expect India to be the third largest economy in just a few years, maybe we are talking even months…We have the US, China, Japan and Germany…India very soon will be the third largest. We also see emerging powers like Indonesia, Nigeria and Brazil growing very fast… The world is between orders, we had a post-Cold War order, which is over. The new order, we don’t know yet. But it needs to factor in that there are new countries that are very popular, that are growing that need to be on the table when important decisions are taken…The UN is a forum where all countries are represented in the general assembly…That is a full reflection of the diversity of the world,” he said.

Emphasising on the importance of multilateralism, Brende said, “Multilateralism is more important than ever. The most pressing challenges are global – food crisis, energy crisis, pandemics in the future, indebtedness and reviving economic growth. Each country can’t deal with these issues on their own. You can’t decide for other countries, but finding commonalities and building trust is important.”

Citing the example of China, he said, “China, which was the engine of growth, is today growing less, which is impacting global growth…Trade is key to growth…That is also part of SDGs… We are far behind. We need inclusive growth.”

“It is good news that countries like India, Nigeria, Indonesia and Brazil are growing substantially. That has a positive impact on other countries growing slowly. India is in a special situation. Due to digitalisation and also digital IDs, India is a very digital literate country. It can maybe inspire others…,” he said.

“Globally, we are not in a very bad situation. We are just not out of the woods. We were expecting the US to see recession, but that is not happening…Most European countries are still growing with the exception of Germany that may still see recession,” Brende said.