External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India has successfully taken its slogan of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas and sabka vishwas’ to the world. The world, he said, wants to understand India’s positioning and ideas.

Nations across the world think that having good ties with India is in their own interest, he said while addressing an Indian community event in Spain last night. Mr Jaishankar said every nation feels that this Bharat is a new Bharat. The Indian economy is at the fifth position and will reach the third spot in a few years.

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”You all will remember, 10 years back, we were at 10th or 11th position. The world recognises the pace at which progress is happening in India today. So, first is positioning and second is capabilities. And the third is actually our ideas, that India is today seen as contributing to a global conversation,” he added.

The foreign minister recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia and Ukraine in 2024. India Under Mr Modi, Mr Jaishankar said, is able to speak to both Israel and Iran. The country is in a position to be a member of both Quad and BRICS.

“So, this is something which is actually very, very unique. And it is unique because if you look at the world today, there are so many tensions in the world, war is also happening at two places. It is a very polarised world. So, in a polarised world, if there is a country, which we used to say in India, ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas’.

We are actually able to take it into the world as well and that is something which slowly, slowly other nations have started to understand and to value. But, it doesn’t have to be only a conflict,” he added. Mr Jaishaankar also spoke about the development taking place in India. He said the rate of change happening in India today is “amazing” and people living in the country have adjusted to the rate of change. Calling on people to see changes when they next visit India, he said, “One reason I think today which I could see, they wanted to deal, understand in India, which was willing to do this. The second issue, as I told you, is the issue of strength. And the fact is today we are almost a $4 trillion economy. We are doubling at a faster and faster rate.

That is the progression. It is not automatic. But if you look at the changes today in India, I don’t know how many of you go to India, how frequently. I would say at least in two years, everybody would have gone, three years.” Highlighting the development of railway track and highways in India, Mr Jaishankar said that India plans to make 4,000 kilometers of new railway track every year. He said that 28 kilometers of highway is being built each day.

Speaking about the rise in the number of metros in India, he said, “In many cities which some of you would be coming from, earlier we used to listen to the metro, now it is being built or it has already been built. The number of metros has grown from 6 in 2014 to 21 today, and we have a plan to take it to 60. 60 cities of India will have a metro. So, this is not the India which they normally hear about, read about, think about. This was not our image before.”