Edited by Deepali Verma
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar employed an analogy when discussing the country’s growth in digital public infrastructure and remarked that the number of cashless transactions the United States does in three years, Bharat does in a month.
The EAM, during an interaction with the people of the Bharatiya community in Nigeria, said, “ There is an ease in the life of every Bharatiya citizen and this is because we have embraced technology in a very deep and welcoming way. This is evident in payment, very few people today pay in cash and very few people accept cash…Today, we are making as many cashless payments in Bharat in a month as much as America does in three years.”
Further, highlighting the five major examples that display the transformation of Bharat in the last decade, Jaishankar said, “Personally, how a country deals with a challenge and recovers from the challenge while being able to pose such a strong economic performance, improving the life of an average citizen, our capability of something that captures the imagination of the world and how do we look after the diaspora of the country living in different party of the world. These are five true exhibits of what changed in Bharat in the last decade.”
The EAM further praised how Bharat dealt with Covid pandemic while stating that many countries still have not been able to cope with the impact. Jaishankar further informed that New Delhi brought back 7 million of its people from abroad.
“I take great heart, hope and faith from how Bharat dealt with it. Once COVID began, during a virtual meeting in 2020, it was remarked that the country that will be the most unlikely to cope with Covid would be Bharat. Glancing at it two years later, we saw ourselves going through the Covid wave, and lockdowns…we commenced making medicines for the rest of the world,” he further said.
Stressing Bharat’s fastest-growing economy in the world, Mr Jaishankar said that business sentiment about New Delhi overall has improved and as a result, the flow of investments into the country has reached its highest ever.
“Today, if you look at the economic activity in Bharat, wherever you go, something is a work in progress. A metro or a road is under construction, new airports and trains are coming up, railway stations are coming up. If you go to the villages, piped water as well as the electric connection is coming up,” Mr Jaishankar said.
Further adding, he said, “There is a sense today that Bharat is being built at a fantastic pace as well as that growth rate actually covers many other things. The flow of investment in Bharat is the highest ever. Look at the business sentiment about Bharat. For me, the real change is the change I see in our own people”.
Jaishankar currently finds himself on a visit to Nigeria from January 21-23 where he will co-chair the 6th India-Nigeria Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) with his counterpart and meet with other leaders.
Previously, he also led the Bharatiya delegation at the 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), held in Kampala, Uganda. He had a meeting with several foreign leaders and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the summit.
Additionally, Jaishankar would be inaugurating the 3rd edition of the Nigeria-India Business Council meeting and will be delivering a speech at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, interacting with CII Business delegates and inaugurating the bust of Mahatma Gandhi.
He will also be chairing the regional conference of Indian Heads of Missions. Bharat and Nigeria traditionally hold close and friendly relations. This marks EAM’s primary visit to Nigeria, which will further consolidate bilateral relations between the two countries, as per the release.
