New Delhi, Aug. 22 -- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday painted a "realistic picture" of the current global situation, describing it through three Cs -- competition, conflict and choke points -- and suggested a four-D response of derisking, diversification, dealing with distortions and building a margin of safety.

Addressing a session at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum 2026 here, Jaishankar said the world has become increasingly competitive, with countries and policymakers pushing their interests to a point where competition is, at times, turning into conflict.

"It's not a very comforting answer I'm going to give," Jaishankar said while describing how he sees the world today.

"I think what we've seen particularl...