India's diversity a strength of its democracy, country constantly advocating for Global South: PM Modi

New Delhi: India’s diversity is a strength of its democracy and it is constantly advocating for the Global South on all platforms and building open source tech for partners in the region, prime minister Narendra Modi said Thursday while delivering his speech at the 28th meeting of the Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC).

In his speech, PM Modi said that through its diversity, India has proven that democratic institutions and democratic processes provide democracy with stability, speed, and scale. He also said that India is making innovations for the Global South.

The prime minister said that India is “strongly advocating” for the interests of the Global South on every global platform. “During its G20 presidency, India has also placed the concerns of the Global South at the heart of the global agenda,” he said.

“India’s continuous effort is to ensure that whatever innovations we make benefit the entire Global South and benefits for Commonwealth countries. We are also creating open-source tech platforms so that our partner countries in the Global South can also develop systems like those in India,” PM Modi added.

PM Modi also lauded India’s UPI system and said it is the world’s largest digital payment platform. “We lead as the top producer of vaccines, and rank second worldwide in steel production,” he added.

Speaking about the historic significance of the Central Hall, renamed Samvidhan Sadan, PM Modi said in his speech that the Hall served as the meeting place of the Constituent Assembly during India's independence and functioned as the Parliament of India for 75 years.

“For 75 years after India's independence, this building served as the Parliament of India, and many important decisions and discussions concerning India's future took place in this very hall. Now, India has named this place, dedicated to democracy, as the Constitution House (Samvidhan Sadan),” the PM said.

India is hosting the CSPOC for the fourth time, the last being in 2010. As many as 61 Speakers and Presiding Officers of 42 Commonwealth countries and 4 semi-autonomous parliaments are taking part, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla chairing the Conference.

'A platform to share country-specific initiatives'

Calling India one of the fastest growing economies, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that Birla said that the 28th CSPOC will give an opportunity to lawmakers from various countries to share their country-specific initiatives, experiences and best practices in parliamentary democracies. He said that, in India, over the past seven decades, Parliament and State Legislatures have strengthened democracy through people-centric policies and welfare-oriented laws.