Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminded the world about a threat looming large from ‘proxy wars' and ‘unending' terror attacks even during the pandemic.
PM Modi was speaking at the inaugural session of the 6th edition of the Raisina Dialogue on Tuesday. The virtual event was also joined by the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, and the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.
Putting it in perspective, PM Modi said that it was not the idea of a ‘Third World War' that people should fear but the existing and ever-growing threat from terrorism, which needs to be addressed.
“In fact, while humanity has not faced a ‘Third World War', the threat of violence has not reduced in people's lives. With a number of proxy wars and unending terror attacks, the prospect of violence is always present,” he added.
‘Covid-19 has given us opportunity to reorient our thinking'
Urging the world to come together during the pandemic and create a new world order, PM Modi said, “It is not too late. The mistakes and misdeeds of the past seven decades need not constrain our thinking for the future. The Covid-19 pandemic has presented us an opportunity to reshape the world order, to reorient our thinking. We must create systems that address the problems of today and challenges of tomorrow. And we must think of the entire humanity and not merely of those, who are on our side of the borders. Humanity as a whole must be at the centre of our thinking and action.”
The theme for the 2021 Edition of Raisina Dialogue is “#ViralWorld: Outbreaks, Outliers and Out of Control”.
The four-day dialogue is India's flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, and it is being hosted by think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
‘We tried to support pandemic-response efforts of others'
PM Modi further said: “During this pandemic, in our own humble way and within our own limited resources, we in India have tried to walk the talk. We have tried to protect our own 1.3 billion citizens from the pandemic. At the same time, we have also tried to support pandemic response efforts of others.”
“In our neighbourhood, we have encouraged a coordinated regional response to the crisis. Last year, we shared medicines and protective equipment with over 150 countries. We understand fully, that mankind will not defeat the pandemic unless all of us, everywhere, regardless of the colour of our passports, come out of it. That is why, this year, despite many constraints, we have supplied vaccines to over 80 countries,” the prime minister added.
He also emphasised the need to think for the planet and leave a better future for the coming generations since there is only one planet for humankind.
“While we may be used to having ‘Plan A' and ‘Plan B', there is no Planet B. We have only Planet Earth. And so, we must remember that we hold this planet merely as trustees for our future generations,” he said.
