Rich nations have no right to dictate their solutions to others: Rajnath

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday asserted that rich nations have no right to dictate their solutions to nations in need of support.

While participating in the Defence Ministers' Conclave in Bengaluru, Singh stated, "There are nations which are richer, scientifically or technologically and more advanced than others. But, it does not give them the right to dictate their solutions to the nations in need of support."

This top down approach towards solving the problems is not desired in the long run. Often it leads to debt-trap, reaction from the local population, conflict and so on. That is why, the focus should be on providing assistance in terms of building of institutions and capacities so that the bottom of solutions can come up originally in accord with the ethos of the nations being assisted, the Minister stated.

"We offer enhanced defence partnerships to friendly foreign nations which are accommodative of nations' priorities and capacities. We want to build, launch, create and develop with you. We wish to create a symbiotic relationship in which we can learn from each other, grow together and create a win-win situation for one and all," he stated.

Shared prosperity of the world requires greater coordination among all nations in diverse areas of which the domain of defense and security are of most importance. Today, collective security has become sine qua non for prosperity and development.

Terrorism, illegal arms, drugs smuggling, and human trafficking pose significant security threats to the whole world. Though these are not new, their scope and scale are unprecedented. Therefore, to counter these threats, there is a need to devise new strategies, he explained.

India does not believe in dealing with such security issues in old patterns or neo colonial paradigms. "We consider all nations as equal partners. That is why we do not believe in dumping external supra-national solutions to a country's internal problems. We do not believe in sermons or cut and write solutions which do not respect the national values and countries in need of assistance," the Minister insisted.

"It is our endeavour to transcend the hierarchical relationship of buyer and seller to the development and co-production model, whether we are a buyer or seller. "We are a major defence buyer as well as a significant exporter. When we are procuring defence equipment from our valued partner nations, very often they are sharing technical know-how, setting up manufacturing plants in India and working with our local farms or various sub-systems," he said.

He further stated that wherever India is exporting defence equipment, full support is offered towards the capability development.

India has never been a closed country and has always been open to new ideas or thoughts from all over the world. "Our past openness continues to shape the present and future. Untethered to any faction or alliance of one group of nations against another, we have worked ceaselessly for the upliftment of all nations, developing ones in particular, he said. India always stood for a rule based international order," he added.

--IANS

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