PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for a profound rethink of the global development parameters and proposed setting up of a G20 initiative to counter the drug-terror nexus and a global healthcare response team. Addressing the opening session of the G20 Leaders’ Meeting here, Modi said the G20 has long shaped global finance and growth, but prevailing

 

models have deprived large populations of resources and driven the over-exploitation of nature – challenges feltacutelyinAfrica. Modi also presented the principleofIntegralHumanism -- part of India’s civilisational values --whichhe said showed a way forward in striking a balance between development andnature.

 

ThePrimeMinister outlined four path-breaking new initiatives – the Global Traditional Knowledge Repository, the G20-Africa Skills Multiplier Initiative, the G20 Global Healthcare Response Team, and the G20 Initiative on Countering the Drug–Terror Nexus. Acknowledging that the G20 LeadersSummitwasbeingheld inAfrica for the first time,Modi said the focus

 

on strikinga balance between development and environment was more appropriate,given that thecontinenthasbeenavictimofoverexploitation of natural resources. “Now is the right moment for us to revisit our development parameters and focus on growth that is inclusive and sustainable. India’s civilisational values, especially the principle of Integral

 

Humanism offers a way forward,” Modi told the session on ‘Inclusive and sustainable economic growth leaving no one behind.’ Recognising that many communities across the world preserve eco-balanced, culturally rich, and socially cohesive ways of living, the prime minister proposed the creationofaGlobalTraditional Knowledge Repository under the G20. India’s Indian Knowledge

 

Systems initiative can form the base for this platform, he said. The repository will document and share traditional wisdom that demonstrates time-tested models of sustainable living, ensuring that this knowledge is carried forward to future generations. The Prime Minister proposed the G20-Africa Skills Multiplier with a train-thetrainers approach across sectors, supported and financed by all G20 partners. “Thecollective targetis tocreate one million certified trainers in Africa over the next decade,whowill thenhelp skill millions of young people,” he said.Voicing concern over the rapid spread of lethal synthetic

 

drugs such as fentanyl, the primeministerwarnedof their graveimpact on public health, socialstability,andglobalsecurity. Modi proposed a dedicatedG20InitiativeonCountering the Drug–Terror Nexus, aimed at unifying financial, governance, and security tools. “The initiative will help disrupt trafficking networks, chokeillicit financial flows,and weakenamajor fundingsource for terrorism,” Modi said. Healsoproposed the setting up of a G20 Global Healthcare Response Team. “

 

We are strongerwhenwework together in the face of health emergencies and natural disasters. Our effort should be to create teams of trained medical experts from fellowG20nations who are ready forrapiddeployment in case of any emergencies,” the prime minister said. Earlier, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomedModi at theSummit venue with a ‘namaste’. Modi wasseeninteractinginformally with global leaders such as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres among others