Jaishankar bats for domestic production over unchecked globalisation

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought India’s capabilities and need for more domestic production rather than unchecked globalisation, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Tuesday, speaking at a technology summit, where he said that to foster technology growth, the nation must seek more education, skills, start-ups, supply chains and jobs to be created internally. Domestic supply chain “The idea that you should be so open to the world, that other people can come and operate in your economy, on terms which are advantageous to them, because that’s supposed to be how a global economy works, to my mind, is ridiculous,” said Mr. Jaishankar in a counter, adding that when “people talk about supply chains, I would say first of all, look at our domestic supply chain, that should be our first responsibility.” Speaking at the same conference, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson lauded India for strides in technology, and said the Indian talent and U.K. innovation made the two countries “natural partners”. “Already we are working together on many fantastic projects from the U.K. India partnership on 5G and telecoms to the U.K. start-ups who are working with Indian giants Tata Group, Godrej on the green technology that will help power our countries to net zero,” Mr. Johnson said, adding that after the U.S. and China, the U.K. was the only country to have produced 100 “unicorn” start-ups valued at over a billion each. Technological collaborations In their interventions at the launch of the two-day summit, both MEA adviser Ashok Mallik and British High Commissioner Alex Ellis also pointed to the importance of technological collaborations between “trusted partners” in the post-COVID era, using the joint venture between the U.K.’s Astra Zeneca and India’s Serum Institute of India to produce the Covishield vaccine as a prime example of a joint success.