NEW YORK: India will focus on critical issues of Security Council reform, peacekeeping, terrorism, climate change and development agenda at a landmark session of the UN General Assembly here next week, a top Indian official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrives here on September 23, will address the high-level Sustainable Development Summit hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on September 25, when the new and ambitious post-2015 development agenda will be adopted.
Slated to be one of the largest ever gatherings at the UN, the Sustainable Development Summit will be attended by more than 150 heads of state and world leaders.
Pope Francis will also address the UN General Assembly on September 25.
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Asoke Mukerji told reporters here yesterday that Modi will address the summit on the morning of September 25.
The Prime Minister “has given a lot of attention to the substance of the development agenda. The focus of his speech will be Agenda 2030,” Mukerji said.
Outlining the priorities of India during the 70th session of the General Assembly, Mukerji said India’s focus will be peacekeeping, Security Council reform, terrorism and climate change.
Modi will then head to the West Coast to visit San Francisco on September 26-27 and will return to New York on September 28, when he is expected to have a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama, who will be in the city to address the General Debate on its opening day.
On UNSC reform, Mukerji said “we are very upbeat” after the General Assembly endorsed beginning of negotiations on reform of the powerful UN body on the basis of a text.
“We are looking forward to beginning the negotiations when the General Assembly convenes on this agenda item in early November,” he said.
India’s focus will also be to conduct “active outreach” in taking matters forward on the reform process, he added.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will deliver India’s statement in the General Debate in the morning session on October 1.
Modi will also speak at the Second Peacekeeping Summit on September 28 at the world body’s headquarters, that will also be addressed by the UN Secretary-General and Obama.
Mukerji said Modi will hold bilateral meetings during his visit to New York but did not give any further details.
He also did not comment on whether the leaders from India and Pakistan could meet next week on the sidelines on the Assembly session.
When asked to comment on Pakistan National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz planning to present a dossier to the UN on Kashmir, Mukerji said, “It is for him to do what he wants to do. When he does what he does, then we will see what to do.”
On terrorism, India will continue to strive for progress towards finalization of the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
It will also “initiate action” for the listing of terrorists of security concern to us by the Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committees of the Security Council.
On peacekeeping, Mukerji said the session will see action on the recommendations of the Independent Panel on Peace Operations chaired by Jose Ramos Horta as well as on the Implementation Report being prepared by the Secretary General.
An approach paper prepared by the Indian mission for the session said India’s effort will be to ensure acceptance of the recommendation relating to the primacy of political solutions so that mandating of peacekeeping missions only takes place when there is peace to keep and not with offensive or interventionist mandates.
Other focus areas for India during the UNGA will be international peace and security, human rights and disarmament.
India will call for continued engagement of the international community through support in security, political and economic areas to the Afghan government to ensure the country does not re-lapse into conflict, according to the approach paper.
“The international community must continue to focus on and address the support for terrorists and armed groups that fuels conflict in Afghanistan,” the paper said.
India also supports UN efforts to assist the national authorities in the Middle East region, including Syria, Yemen and Libya to promote internal dialogue and reforms with a view to resolving the crises and ensuring stability and prosperity.
India will also continue to support initiatives at the UN for an early realization of a sovereign, independent and united state of Palestine side by side and at peace with Israel, it said. .
India will also be hosting the meeting of the G4 foreign ministers but Mukerji said the time and date of the meeting are still being worked upon keeping in mind the convenience and availability of the ministers.
Mukerji said India is the “biggest canvas” for the sustainable development goals and the country is looking at a time-bound manner to implement the targets.
“The success of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) will depend on the success of India in many ways, especially on eradication of poverty,” he said.
He added that for India the three areas of interest in the SDGs are the provision of financial resources for development, transfer of dissemination of technology for development and empowerment of women for development.
Mukerji said India is striving to accomplish several SDG targets at the national level including providing access to sanitation and clean water by October 2, 2019, coinciding with the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Another target relevant to the SDG goal on energy is to shift by 2022 the mix of energy in India in favor of solar and renewable energy.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar will also be arriving in the city later this month to participate in a high-level climate change meeting, Mukerji said.
Mukerji stressed that through the past UNGA sessions, India has demonstrated that it believes in “inclusive and holistic approach” and not in an “approach of confrontation”.–PTI
