India ready to help restore peace in Middle East, PM Modi tells G20 leaders

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his opening address at the G20 virtual summit on Wednesday underlined the need for all nations to work together to find a solution to the new challenges that have emerged in the Middle East with the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

He welcomed the release of 50 hostages by the Hamas leadership and expressed the hope that the other hostages would be released soon.

PM Modi said that terrorism was not acceptable and at the same time civilian deaths have to be condemned.

"India is ready to work in the joint efforts to find a solution to the conflict and restore peace… terrorism and violence has to be opposed," he added.

The Prime Minister said it was important to work together to prevent the war from spreading into a wider geopolitical conflict in the region.

PM Modi also raised concerns over the misuse of AI (artificial intelligence) and emphasised the need to work jointly to tackle the danger posed by deepfakes to society and the people.

"AI should be introduced responsibly so that it reaches the people but it must be safe for society," he added

The Prime Minister said that the G20 under India's presidency has increased faith in multilateralism and the problems confronting the Gobal South have been brought to the centre stage.

"The countries of the Global South are facing difficulties for which they are not responsible so the need of the hour is to support the development agenda for them," he said.

There is a need for better, effective and future-ready reforms to provide assistance to the needy countries.

The 2030 self development goals (SDGs) should be expedited as the world unites to fight climate change. Concrete steps would have to be taken at the forthcoming COP28 meeting, he added.

PM Modi also highlighted that India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiative which can play a crucial role in the delivery of services at a societal scale has gained acceptance and several countries had come on board in the G20 discussions.

PM Modi said that India would be making a contribution of $25 million as part of the fund to push the social initiative and other countries were invited to join this effort.

He also pointed out that India's local level aspiration district programme had been highly successful in lifting crores of people out of poverty and he invited other countries to take a look at the example.