India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said India can advance its national interests through international cooperation, citing several initiatives at the NDTV World Summit on Oct. 22, NDTV reported.
The summit's official agenda listed Jaishankar for a session titled “India: The Geopolitics of Sovereign Choice.” An event post embedded in NDTV's report carried his remark: “We serve our national interest by contributing to global good.”
NDTV reported that Jaishankar cited yoga, millets, the International Solar Alliance, disaster response and India's COVID-19 vaccine support as examples of cooperation. He presented the initiatives alongside his argument that contributing to global good serves India's national interest.
The United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly adopted a 2014 resolution setting June 21 as the International Day of Yoga. In a separate resolution, it designated 2023 the International Year of Millets. That measure cited the crop's nutritional value and resilience to climate impacts as reasons to raise awareness.
India's Ministry of External Affairs dates the International Solar Alliance's launch to Nov. 30, 2015, in Paris, where the leaders of India and France introduced it as a platform for cooperation among 121 countries with abundant solar resources.
A parliamentary answer dated Dec. 7, 2023, put Vaccine Maitri deliveries since January 2021 at 301.2 million doses. The Indian government said the doses went to 99 countries and two U.N. entities.
