India a voice for Global South at G7, says foreign minister
Article content
India, whose leader has been invited to the G7 starting on Sunday, is eager to represent the Global South on the world stage, acting as a 'bridge' between different countries, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said.
Article content
India is not a member of the G7 — which comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — but the world's most populous nation and one of its biggest economies has been invited to summits since 2019.
Article content
Article content
Article content
'We have been an outreach country in the G7 for many years, and I think it brings benefits to the G7,' he told AFP in Paris.
Article content
Article content
'There are very strong feelings in the Global South about the inequities of the international order, the desire to change it, and we are very much part of that,' he added.
Article content
'It is important for us to organize ourselves and make our presence felt.'
Article content
The leaders of the G7 kick off a yearly summit in the Canadian Rockies on Sunday.
They have invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with the leaders of Ukraine, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea, to attend at a time of global turmoil and a radical new US approach to world affairs.
Article content
The member nations are also expected to deliberate on troubled relations with China and Russia.
Article content
India is a leading member of BRICS — a bloc of leading emerging economies that includes Russia and China, whose leaders are set to meet in early July.
Article content
Article content
BRICS has growing economic clout and is increasingly seen as a G7 rival.
Article content
Jaishankar said India had 'the ability to work with different countries in a way without making any relationship exclusive'.
Article content
'To the extent that that serves as a bridge, it's frankly a help that we do to international diplomacy at a time when, mostly what you see are difficult relationships and excessive tensions,' he added.
Article content
But Jaishankar — whose nation is a political ally of Russia and trades with Moscow — said sanctions such as those against President Vladimir Putin's government did not work.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
SHAPIRO: Israel's stunning victory over Iran and two big lies debunked
This handout satellite image released by Maxar Technologies on June 19, 2025 and taken on June 19, 2025, shows damage at the Iranian nuclear facility at Arak in central Iran, after an Israeli strike. Photo by Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP via Getty Images This week, Israel finally unleashed its firepower against Iran's nuclear program in a devastating feat of intelligence work, technological competence and war planning. The Israelis not only caught the Iranian regime flatfooted, but they devastated Iran's war-making capacity, degrading Iran's missile launchers by half, its nuclear program by up to 90% and its top military layer almost entirely. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account All of this was the result of years of meticulous planning. For decades, Iran built up a bevvy of terror proxies from Iraq through Syria and Lebanon, into the Gaza Strip and the so-called West Bank, and down to Yemen. It radically increased its ballistic missile capacity. Iran's proxies killed hundreds of Americans across the region, attempted to destabilize regimes ranging from Saudi Arabia to Jordan and provided the muscle for Bashar al-Assad in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran threatened Israel's destruction daily and cursed America, all while building nuclear weapons. Just last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that Iran was in breach of its non-proliferation obligations. According to Israeli intelligence, the Iranians were on the verge of achieving a nuclear breakout that would outpace Israel's ability to hamper the program. With Iran's air defences gone after battling Israel last year, the window for action was closing. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. So, Israel acted. Having spent nearly two years decapitating Iran's proxies one by one, Israel quickly established an air corridor from Israel to Tehran, using both Mossad agents on the ground and Israeli Air Force assets from the air to thoroughly wreck the Iranian regime's military and nuclear capacity. All of which is an unfettered good for the West. A nuclear Iran, as President Donald Trump has said for decades, is a threat not just to Israel but to the West. A nuclear-armed Iran could easily take control of vital waterways ranging from the Red Sea to the Strait of Hormuz. It could threaten American allies ranging from Israel to the United Arab Emirates to Jordan to Saudi Arabia while pursuing destabilizing terror uprisings and could even use a nuclear umbrella, with improved intercontinental ballistic missiles, to threaten Europe or the United States directly if it sought to do so. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The first rule of a rational foreign policy is to take geopolitical enemies seriously when they openly threaten your destruction every single day. Israel took that threat seriously and acted. And the world is better off. Yet, some on the American political right seem disturbed by Israel's success. Some worry, inaccurately but understandably, that America might be drawn into a broader nation-building operation in Iran — something Trump certainly will not do and that Israel has not requested. Even if Trump were to authorize a series of strikes on the Iranian underground nuclear facility at Fordow, that would not amount to an Iraq-like nation-building operation; it would far more clearly resemble Trump's heroic vapourization of Iranian terror-master Qassem Soleimani in 2020. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Others bizarrely seem to see Israel as the fountainhead of evil in the world — a perverse moral perspective that turns reality on its head in favour of conspiratorial fantasy. Some of these people hide behind a pseudo-realism that pretends to see an Iranian nuclear capacity as less of a regional threat than strikes on the Iranian nuclear capacity, warning of a Third World War, a nuclear holocaust that will somehow emerge from Israel preventing a nuclear Iran. Whatever the purported justification for inaction, Israel — and Trump's open support for Israel's operation — has proven such doubters wrong. It turns out that the best way to end the threat of a nuclear Iran is to end the threat of a nuclear Iran. It turns out that peace through strength requires actual strength to achieve peace, and that peace through isolationist weakness ends not in peace but in regional conflagration, ongoing for decades. With the destruction of the Iranian nuclear program, two lies die: The lie that only negotiations can end the threat of a rogue state seeking nuclear weapons and the lie that every conflict must necessarily become Iraq. Both of those lies deserved to die grim deaths. And, like the Iranian nuclear program, both have been obliterated in this show of Western muscle against the radical Iranian regime. Read More World Toronto & GTA Columnists MMA World
Toronto Sun
2 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Canada-Europe security and defence pact to be signed Monday in Brussels
Published Jun 20, 2025 • 3 minute read Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks as he attends a tour of the Fort York Armoury in Toronto on June 9, 2025 in Toronto, Canada. Prime Minister Carney has pledged to meet NATO's 2% spending pledge this — A security and defence partnership pact Prime Minister Mark Carney will sign with European leaders in Brussels on Monday will be among the most wide-ranging agreements with a third country Europe has ever reached, a senior EU official said on Friday. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Carney is flying to Europe Sunday for a Canada — EU Summit, planned for Monday evening with European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. At the G7 summit in Alberta on Monday von der Leyen confirmed that the agreement will be signed on Monday in Brussels, calling Canada a 'key partner.' 'This is also a moment where we can strengthen Canada's role in Europe's rapidly evolving defence architecture,' said Von der Leyen on June 16. In a briefing to Canadian and European reporters on Friday, a senior European official said there will be two main outcomes from the summit — a joint statement that expresses views on global issues, such as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as the signing of the 'EU Canada Security and Defence Partnership Agreement.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'This is an ambitious one,' the official said. 'And actually we've had this with a number of global partners, but the one with Canada would be one of the most far reaching of its kind that the EU has ever signed with a third country. It will open up new avenues for joint work on crisis management, military mobility, maritime security, cyber and cyber threats, and defence industrial co-operation.' Carney has been clear that he intends to expand Canada's ties with Europe as its relationship with the United States strains under the weight of tariffs and threats of annexation. Within two days of being sworn in as prime minister in March Carney flew to Europe, meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It was during those meetings that he seriously began talking about signing on to Europe's new defence procurement plan known as ReArm Europe. In the throne speech on May 27, Carney's government pledged to join that program, and he told the CBC in an interview that same day he expected Canada to do that by July 1. On June 9, Carney announced a massive investment in Canada's defence budget to push Canada above the two per cent of GDP NATO target this country has promised — and failed — to meet for more than a decade. Joining ReArm Europe is part of that plan, with Carney repeatedly saying Canada can no longer put all its defence spending into the U.S. 'We are in close discussions with our European partners to join ReArm Europe,' he said on June 9. 'That will be an element of diversification. That's just smart. It's better to be diversified. It's better to have options. It's better to have different supply chains and broader partners.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The agenda for the summit posted by the European Council says the security and defence procurement agreement will allow Canada to join a European loan program for joint defence projects. That 150-billion euro program — called Security Action for Europe, or SAFE — is part of the ReArm Europe initiative. The EU official said on Friday that once the procurement agreement is in place, Canada will have to negotiate a bilateral agreement with the European Commission to begin discussions with member states about procurement opportunities. Leaders at the EU-Canada summit are also expected to discuss global trade and the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East. They will also commit to fully ratifying the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the Canada-Europe free trade agreement known as CETA. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University, said Carney also should put the 'pedal to the metal' on ratifying CETA. The deal entered into force provisionally in 2017, but several EU member states still need to ratify CETA at the national level. 'The real challenge there is to get Canadian businesses and also European businesses to take it up … and to start doing more business across the Atlantic, but that also requires political leadership,' Hampson said. 'It hasn't been fully ratified but that's something (Carney) can perhaps impress upon the Europeans.' After Brussels, Carney will travel to The Hague for the NATO leaders' summit, where discussions are expected to push forward on increasing the NATO members' defence spending target as high as five per cent of GDP, from the current two per cent. RECOMMENDED VIDEO World Columnists MMA World Toronto & GTA
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canada-Europe security and defence pact to be signed Monday in Brussels
OTTAWA – A security and defence partnership pact Prime Minister Mark Carney will sign with European leaders in Brussels on Monday will be among the most wide-ranging agreements with a third country Europe has ever reached, a senior EU official said on Friday. Carney is flying to Europe Sunday for a Canada — EU Summit, planned for Monday evening with European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. At the G7 summit in Alberta on Monday von der Leyen confirmed that the agreement will be signed on Monday in Brussels, calling Canada a 'key partner.' 'This is also a moment where we can strengthen Canada's role in Europe's rapidly evolving defence architecture,' said Von der Leyen on June 16. In a briefing to Canadian and European reporters on Friday, a senior European official said there will be two main outcomes from the summit — a joint statement that expresses views on global issues, such as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as the signing of the 'EU Canada Security and Defence Partnership Agreement.' 'This is an ambitious one,' the official said. 'And actually we've had this with a number of global partners, but the one with Canada would be one of the most far reaching of its kind that the EU has ever signed with a third country. It will open up new avenues for joint work on crisis management, military mobility, maritime security, cyber and cyber threats, and defence industrial co-operation.' Carney has been clear that he intends to expand Canada's ties with Europe as its relationship with the United States strains under the weight of tariffs and threats of annexation. Within two days of being sworn in as prime minister in March Carney flew to Europe, meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. It was during those meetings that he seriously began talking about signing on to Europe's new defence procurement plan known as ReArm Europe. In the throne speech on May 27, Carney's government pledged to join that program, and he told the CBC in an interview that same day he expected Canada to do that by July 1. On June 9, Carney announced a massive investment in Canada's defence budget to push Canada above the two per cent of GDP NATO target this country has promised — and failed — to meet for more than a decade. Joining ReArm Europe is part of that plan, with Carney repeatedly saying Canada can no longer put all its defence spending into the U.S. 'We are in close discussions with our European partners to join ReArm Europe,' he said on June 9. 'That will be an element of diversification. That's just smart. It's better to be diversified. It's better to have options. It's better to have different supply chains and broader partners.' The agenda for the summit posted by the European Council says the security and defence procurement agreement will allow Canada to join a European loan program for joint defence projects. That 150-billion euro program — called Security Action for Europe, or SAFE — is part of the ReArm Europe initiative. The EU official said on Friday that once the procurement agreement is in place, Canada will have to negotiate a bilateral agreement with the European Commission to begin discussions with member states about procurement opportunities. Leaders at the EU-Canada summit are also expected to discuss global trade and the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East. They will also commit to fully ratifying the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the Canada-Europe free trade agreement known as CETA. Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University, said Carney also should put the 'pedal to the metal' on ratifying CETA. The deal entered into force provisionally in 2017, but several EU member states still need to ratify CETA at the national level. 'The real challenge there is to get Canadian businesses and also European businesses to take it up … and to start doing more business across the Atlantic, but that also requires political leadership,' Hampson said. 'It hasn't been fully ratified but that's something (Carney) can perhaps impress upon the Europeans.' After Brussels, Carney will travel to The Hague for the NATO leaders' summit, where discussions are expected to push forward on increasing the NATO members' defence spending target as high as five per cent of GDP, from the current two per cent. — With files from Kyle Duggan, Dylan Robertson and The Associated Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2025.
