By Reena Bhardwaj
New York [US]: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday stated that there is greater support for India’s case to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council and that there is a broad global consensus over the need to reform the Council. “I do believe that each passing year, I sense in the world that there is greater and greater support for India to be there (UNSC).”
The Minister said that a reform particularly as it does not reflect the realities of the world, asserting that an expanded Council is not only in India’s favour but also in favour of other unrepresented areas.
“Within a few years India will be the third largest economy in the world, it will be the most populous society and not to have such a country in the council- it’s obvious it’s not good for us, but I also think it’s good for the global council,” Jaishankar said while speaking at the Columbia University, New York.
Earlier, he also said that it is in the mutual interest of India and China to find a way to accommodate each other as the “Rise of Asia” is contingent on the economies of the two countries getting along well.
“The biggest thing we have seen in the world is the rise of China. It has risen in a dramatic manner. It’s in mutual interest to accommodate each other because the rise of Asia is contingent on the three biggest economies getting along with each other,” said Jaishankar at an event at Columbia University.
Over the last three days, Jaishankar has met with envoys and heads of states from around the world on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and has more than 50 official engagements in total. The highlights of Jaishankar’s meetings particularly with developing countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Small Islands are sharply focused on the reform of the UN Security Council.
” We do command the confidence and trust of a very large part of the world. I do not want to compare it with the current permanent 5 (P5) but I would say a lot of countries, perhaps think that we speak for them with a high degree of empathy and accuracy,” Jaishankar added.
Jaishankar will address world leaders at the General Assembly on Saturday, after which he will leave for Washington and a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Jaishankar meets Turkish counterpart
Meanwhile, a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raked up the issue of Kashmir at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar met his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and held talks on Cyprus.
On the second day of the UNGA on Wednesday, Jaishankar held a wide-ranging conversation with Cavusoglu which included talks on the Ukraine conflict, food security and Cyprus. The talks come as the UN continues to push to resolve decades of tensions in Cyprus between the Turkish Cypriot north and the Greek Cypriot south, whose communities have been split since 1974.
“Met FM @MevlutCavusoglu of Turkiye on sidelines of UNGA. Wide-ranging conversation that covered the Ukraine conflict, food security, G20 processes, global order, NAM and Cyprus,” Jaishnakar had tweeted.
Jaishankar meets Ukrainian PM External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar on Wednesday (local time) met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Jaishankar is on a 10-day visit to the United States for the 77th session of the UNGA. The meeting comes after the US and France hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war.
On the sidelines of the SCO summit in Samarkand on September 16, PM Modi had said “today’s era isn’t of war” while emphasising the need to find ways to address the problems of food, fuel security and fertilizers.