UN chief very vocal about issues to be highlighted at Voice of Global South Summit, says his spokesperson

As India prepares to host a special 'Voice of Global South Summit' next week, a UN spokesperson has said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been very vocal about issues that will be the focus at the virtual summit such as the deep impact of the Ukraine conflict and COVID crisis on developing countries.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the Secretary-General, was responding to a question on the virtual summit being hosted by India on January 12-13 in which more than 120 countries are been invited to participate.

The summit will focus on issues such as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict and increasing food, fertilizers, and fuel prices. "Obviously, these are issues, which the Secretary-General I think has been very vocal about and flagging how much the developing countries have been hurt by the conflict in Ukraine, by the unequal approach to solving the COVID crisis, debt relief and so on," Dujarric said on Friday.

When asked if the UN has been invited to the summit, Dujarric responded that he would check.

The 'global South' largely refers to countries in Asia, Africa and South America. This 'Voice of Global South Summit' under the theme of 'Unity of Voice, Unity of Purpose' envisages bringing together countries of the Global South to share their perspectives and priorities on a common platform, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

''India will work to ensure that the valuable inputs generated from partner countries in the Voice of Global South Summit deliberations receive due cognizance globally," it said. It added that India's ongoing Presidency of the G20 provides a special and strong opportunity for those countries that are not part of the G20 process to share their ideas and expectations from the G20. "This is in line with Prime Minister's statement that India's G20 Presidency will be shaped in consultation with not just our G20 partners, but also our fellow travellers in the Global South, whose voice often goes unheard," it said.

The Summit will include 10 sessions over the course of two days. The inaugural and concluding sessions would be at the Head of State / Government level, and hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The theme of the Inaugural Leaders' session is ''Voice of Global South - for Human-Centric Development" and that of the Concluding Leaders' session is ''Unity of Voice-Unity of Purpose".

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