India assumed G20 presidency at a time when country matters most to the world: Jaishankar

New Delhi, August 31 (IANS) External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday said that India has assumed the G20 presidency at a time when the country matters the most to the world.

"The fact is, India has assumed the G20 presidency at a moment when India is mattering more and more to the world. It is mattering more to the world partly because of our economic achievements as we have now become the number five economy," the minister said while interacting with students of Hindu College at Delhi University.

"We are today recognised as essential to the global workplace, to the global talent pool. It matters because we also today have demonstrated a capability. We have demonstrated a capability of helping other countries. Therefore India's presidency of the G20 has expectations and responsibilities which are very exceptional," he added.

The Union Minister went on to said that "we have changed the world's thinking about solar energy through the International Solar Alliance".

"Today we are trying to change the world's food habits through the International Year of Millets. We have created a collective way of responding to disasters through a coalition of disaster response.

"So the whole perception today of India is not just a happening place where these big leaps of technology are made, it is also a place, a country, which is today seen as responsible, which is seen as innovative, which is seen as actually driving global progress.

"So I am very confident that when one day you will all look back, you will all remember 2023 as a big year for India, as a year when our G20 presidency put us on a different place in the map of the world," Jaishankar added.

On Chandrayaan-3, the External Affairs Minister said: "At the BRICS summit, we were physically present there but we were mentally in Bengaluru because all the while, the thoughts in prime minister's mind, in ours as well, was Chandrayaan. But that evening, there was only one topic of conversation, that topic of conversation was the Chandrayaan landing.

"The greatest satisfaction for me that day was this sense from all the leaders that India has done it."

During an interactive session, when asked about India's membership of the UN Security Council, Jaishankar said: "The present UN architecture was formed in the 1940s. There were 50 member countries of the UN back then, and now there are more than 200 countries.

"So there will be changes. The world's largest country in terms of population and the fifth-largest economy cannot be kept out of this and if it is kept out, there will be questions raised on the credibility of the UN.

"History is on our side, and the UN will change. Forces who are blocking it (India's bid to seek membership of UNSC) will keep trying but eventually it will happen."

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