Outreach efforts toward developing nations cannot be easily separated from the politics of power, with countries such as Japan and India vying for prominence with China. © Illustration by Hiroko Oshima

India pushes 'Global South' goals on to G-20 agenda

Grouping of less industrialized countries remains loosely defined

KIRAN SHARMA and NANA SHIBATA, Nikkei staff writers

April 25, 2023 06:00 JST

NEW DELHI/JAKARTA -- As Chinese President Xi Jinping was giving Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva the red-carpet treatment in Beijing on April 14, India's top diplomat S. Jaishankar was on a brisk tour of Africa.

Jaishankar stopped in Uganda near the source of the Nile, squeezed in a transit visit to Ethiopia, and rode an Indian-made train in Mozambique. On a bright and breezy day in Maputo, the Mozambican capital, he paid tribute at a memorial for heroes of the country's fight for independence from Portugal.