NEW DELHI: British High Commissioner to India Alexander Ellis has called India’s G20 presidency an “opportunity” to empower and solidify the image of a “new and modern India”. In an interview recently, he expressed faith in India’s potential to tackle some of the “world’s big problems”.
Ellis said he believed India was one of the few countries in the world which had the power to unite all. India has the potential to bring together countries with opposing views and work towards practical solutions to problems facing the world such as climate change, sustainability and public health, he said.
“It is an opportunity to tell the story of India and the story of new India and modern India. So, I am glad that India has got the presidency and we will support it absolutely to try and find answers to those questions. But it’s a tough ask. Ellis added.
Praises PM and Sherpa
The British High Commissioner heaped praises on the current Indian leadership, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi and G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant. He credited PM Modi for India’s ambitious and tall efforts to bring the world together and find solutions to challenges faced by the world today especially through integration and use of technology to find sustainable paths to development, climate change and public health.
“During India’s G20 Presidency, Amitabh Kant as G20 Sherpa is very ambitious and that flows through Prime Minister Narendra Modi to try and tackle some of the world’s big problems for example development and how you do development in technology in future and how does technology play a role in development,” he said.
September Summit
For India, the G20 presidency also marks the beginning of ‘Amrit Kaal’, the 25 year period beginning from the 75th anniversary of its independence on August 15, 2022. The 43 heads of delegations, the largest ever in G20 history, are expected to participate in the New Delhi Summit in September this year.
“In a divided world and in the era of geopolitical competition, you are having to do with big problems, where you have a fractured group of countries but India I think has the convincing power to bring together those countries to try and work its way through,” Ellis said
