External affairs minister S Jaishankar (PTI photo)
NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday expressed concern over the changing global order that he said appeared to be “headed for a long twilight zone,” which the minister predicted would be “messy, risky, unpredictable, and even dangerous”.Speaking during the FECC Three-Day Global Economic Cooperation (GEC) Summit, Jaishankar said that replacements are hard to create, however, acknowledged that present aspects of world order “will coexist with elements of the emerging one”.
“The established global order is clearly changing before our very eyes. Replacements are hard to create, and we appear to be headed for a long twilight zone. This will be messy, risky, unpredictable, perhaps even dangerous. We have already seen this across different geographies. Aspects of the present order will coexist with elements of the emerging one,” the minister said.Jaishankar said that economics will give way to politics and security “when it comes to making choices and technology in the age of AI will be even more transformative than ever before.”The minister also highlighted how the world today has been witnessing “weaponisation of production, finance, leveraging of market shares and tightening of export controls”. In the backdrop of the India-US trade pact and “mother of all deals” with the European Union, the minister said Bharat is engaging with international partners “more intensively from a position of strength”.”From a position of strength, India is engaging international partners more intensively. This is demonstrated in the recently concluded trade deals,” he said.Following a phone conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, both sides recently announced a reduction of US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent.Last month, India and the European Union (EU) concluded negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), which will help boost two-way commerce and strengthen economic ties between the two sides, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal earlier said.
