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Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland on Thursday emphasised India's significant role in developing and assisting other member states, particularly in terms of technological advancement and said that they look up to it with "hope" and "expectations."
"I watched in 2020 when India said that she wanted digitalised services for every single Indian citizen, and they were aspiring to do that at $1 per citizen. Well, when you have 1.4, 1.5 billion people, you have the opportunity to make the difference you need to make. India's wonderful generosity means that when it has found a way of delivering these services cheaply, efficiently, fairly, and efficaciously, India has been willing to share that. Our member states are looking to India with hope, with expectation, and this sharing of technology, this sharing of know-how is very much a mark of the Commonwealth family, and India is right at the heart of that." Patricia said in a Zoom interview with ANI. Lauding India's choice to prioritise sustainable development goals and added "India has made it clear that she believes in the sustainable development goals, it believes in sharing technology, it believes in helping others, and we saw that in COVID when she was a true friend to many. When others were more challenged when it came to sharing, India showed real generosity. So I think India has an incredible role to continue to play at the heart of the Commonwealth," she said. Secretary-General Patricia is scheduled to visit India on the 14th and 15th of this month. Speaking about her 9 years in office, she said, "When I look back over the 9 years, I look at the way we have really expanded on trade. We had about $564 billion of intra-Commonwealth trade when I came in and we had about a 19% advantage... And it is now 21% and rising. It is a huge improvement. We've worked together on things like anti-corruption, good governance, rule of law, freedom, peace, media, elections. (ANI)
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