The Global South faces problems with finance, fuel, food, and fertilizers due ongoing conflicts, the Indian foreign minister has said
Published 26 Oct, 2026 11:16
| Updated 26 Oct, 2026 12:20
Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar talks to media in the Berlaymont, the EU Commission headquarter on July 15, 2026, in Brussels, Belgium. © Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
India has reminded developed nations that they have an equal responsibility to find solutions to conflicts around the world impacting people in the Global South.
“The Global South today faces a 4F crisis of finance, fuel, food and fertilizers,” Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar told a global forum on peace and international cooperation in New Delhi on Saturday. “The Global North must realize that it has equal stakes in finding solutions.”
The minister and career diplomat is known for his takedowns of Western narratives employed to coerce the Global South, including India, to isolate Moscow. Earlier this month he reminded the West that New Delhi’s ties to Moscow run long and deep, and will not be “easily forgotten.”
With the Ukraine conflict now in its fifth year, and the Iran war disrupting energy supplies from the Middle East, Jaishankar called for “genuine dialogue” to bring them to an end. “We cannot remain helpless spectators,” he said, adding that India was expressing the global sentiment when it urged dialogue and diplomacy as the only solution.
A pleasure to join Chinmaya Amrit Mahotsav Global Sammelan celebrating the United Nations day.
Underlined:
➡️ How ‘Advaita’ or ‘One Reality’ requires us to discard zero-sum game thinking and instead, focus on the collective, the shared, the common and our unity.
➡️ The indivisibility of peace, where war anywhere threatens peace everywhere. 🇮🇳 urges dialogue and diplomacy as a solution.
➡️ The need for stronger resolve in countering terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
➡️ The equal responsibility of Global North in find solutions to ensure progress and prosperity for the world.
➡️ AI’s universal applicability and 🇮🇳’s advocacy for responsible, inclusive and human-centric approach.
➡️ The urgent need for reformed multilateralism and for the UN to show leadership in face of global crises
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) October 25, 2026
New Delhi has consistently called for the Ukraine conflict to be resolved peacefully, and offered its own proposal earlier this month. Both the Kremlin and Kiev have welcomed India’s efforts.
The Indian position stands in stark contrast to that of Europe, which wants a seat at the negotiating table, but has still not named a negotiator. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted on Sunday that “the EU has been willing to [appoint a negotiator] for a very long time, but it either cannot do so or lacks the resolve to do so.”
Russia is ready to resume three-way negotiations with the US and Ukraine to discuss post-conflict security arrangements, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said last week.
Jaishankar said market distortions caused by constriction and chokepoints only add to the suffering of the people in the Global South.
The Indian foreign minister also called on the United Nations to show leadership rather than remaining a spectator to global crises, pointing out that the case for a reformed multilateralism is getting stronger by the day.
