Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday proposed the creation of a Social Impact Fund to help implement Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)  in Global South countries.

Delivering the opening remarks at the Virtual G20 Leaders Summit, Modi also announced that India will contribute initial capital of $25 million to the Social Impact Fund that is being put together and expressed hope that the others in the grouping would join this initiative.

Modi also announced that the DPI repository, which the recent Delhi G20 Leaders Summit had decided to  establish, is now ready and 16 countries with over 50 DPIs are now on board this initiative.

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DPI has been one of the cornerstones of India’s G20 Presidency, with Indian officials at every available forum highlighting the progress the country has made in the digital payments space in recent years, especially as regards the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Central Bank Digital Currency.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Modi highlighted that the world is concerned about the negative use of artificial intelligence (AI).

“India thinks that we have to work together on the global regulations for AI. Understanding how dangerous deepfake is for society and individuals, we need to work forward. We want AI should reach the people and it must be safe for the society,” he said.

It is with this approach that India will host the Global AI Partnership Summit in December (next month), he added.

On the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, Modi said: “We know terrorism is not acceptable to any of us. The death of civilians, wherever it might be, is condemnable. We welcome the news of hostages being released in West Asia and hope that all hostages will soon be released,” Modi said.

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“Disturbances and security related issues in West Asia are a matter of concern for all of us. This coming together is a symbol of us wanting to find a solution,” he said.

Modi also said that G20 has increased faith in multilateralism. During India’s Presidency, the G20 has been identified as ‘People’s 20’. India is proud that African Union got a voice during its Presidency, he added.

Modi also underscored the need to implement the action plan devised to accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Economic issues

In his closing remarks at the virtual G20 Leaders summit, Modi said there was consensus in G20 on several issues including “there will be zero tolerance to terrorism. Death of children and women is not acceptable”.

On economic issues, Modi said that G20 will focus attention and give primacy to food security, health security and sustainability issues.

“We will certainly move forward on reforming the multilateral development banks and take initiatives on climate action. We will ensure easy and affordable climate finance. Initiatives will be taken for debt restructuring in a transparent way”, Modi added.

Modi reiterated commitment of G20 in strengthening MSMEs and help build skills in the Global South economies.

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