United States President Barack Obama on Thursday reiterated that the US will remain a steadfast partner for Pakistan as Islamabad moves towards peace and prosperity.The President told the Friends of Democratic Pakistan in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, that he would like to congratulate President Asif Ali Zardari and the member states and organisations constituting the body, for the important work that has been done over the last 12 months.
In a statement issued on Monday, foreign ministers of the three countries, partners in the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum, said expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories is necessary to make the council "more democratic, legitimate, representative and responsive."
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he would adopt a "positive approach" for his meeting with his Indian counterpart S M Krishna on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly in New York.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Wednesday said he was 'sceptical' about the outcome of his meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in the absence of Pakistan acting against the perpetrators of the terror attack on Mumbai. He also urged the United States to be more 'circumspect' in providing aid to Pakistan that was being diverted for use against India. Krishna is scheduled to meet Qureshi on September 27.
Seeking resumption of the composite dialogue process with India, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said such a move is in the best interest of the region.
Pakistan's action against perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks will top the agenda of the meeting, which will take place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the first high-level contact between the two countries after the meeting between their Prime Ministers in July.
"We hope and expect that Pakistan will focus in a meaningful manner on our concerns on terrorism. It is our hope and expectation that Pakistan fulfills all its commitments," Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said he is not expecting any "major breakthrough" in the upcoming meeting with his Indian counterpart S M Krishna though his country continues to be hopeful that bilateral relations will improve.
India on Thursday put on Pakistan the onus of unveiling the conspiracy behind the terror attack on Mumbai and ruled out meaningful dialogue till concrete action is taken against those responsible. The firm message was sent out by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna. "It is in our vital interest to normalise our relations with Pakistan. However, we are at a stage where it is for Pakistan to determine the kind of relationship that it wants to have with India," Krishna said.
Asserting that the majority members of the UN General Assembly support expansion of the Security Council, India today said that the body would remain beset with the "current problem" unless it was reformed.
Foreign ministers of India and Pakistan have sparred over the 26/11 probe with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi accusing New Delhi of non-cooperation, prompting his Indian counterpart S M Krishna to ask the 'people who are sitting in the epicentre of terror' to introspect before making such allegations.
Prime Minister Modi held a number of bilateral meetings with top world leaders like United States President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of his UN address.
Voicing his country's support to Pakistan's stand on the Kashmir issue, he said it can be resolved not through conflict or oppression but on the basis of justice and fairness. "Our Kashmiri brothers and sisters have suffered from inconveniences for decades and these sufferings have become graver due to unilateral steps taken in recent times," Erdogan said.
Both the meetings with the leaders of India and Pakistan would be held in New York on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, a senior administration official told reporters on Friday in a preview of Trump's engagements in the Big Apple next week.
'What they want to do is their call. We've seen them mainstream terrorism in the past. And what you're now telling me is they may want to mainstream hate speech. It's their call, if they want to do that. Poison pens don't work for too long'
In his hard-hitting maiden address to an informal session of the 192-member Assembly on reform of the 15-member Council, Indian ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri lambasted a 'small group' of countries for trying to derail the process by insisting that expansion be limited to non-permanent category.
When Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari stepped on to the podium to address the United Nations General Assembly last month, people in Pakistan expected him to put forth their concerns in front of the international community, but they had no idea that the four pages of his speech had actually cost them US $ 25,000.
They set a Guinness World Record for 'Largest Silent Yoga Class.'
Republican Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York on Wednesday.No details of the meeting, which lasted for half an hour, were released but Palin had been discussing international issues with world leaders who are here to attend the United Nations General Assembly session.Originally, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain was slated to accompany her but sources said he was held up in Washington.
The ongoing financial crisis, poverty reduction, reforms including expansion of the Security Council, uneven progress in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Darfur conflict are likely to dominate the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly that begins on Tuesday. More than 170 heads of state and governments, foreign ministers and senior diplomats will participate in the discussion lasting about two weeks.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi has been criticised for failing to do enough to prevent the violence.
India has declined assistance offered by the United Nations of its integrated supply chain for COVID19-related material, saying the country has a "robust system" to deal with the required logistics, a spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa discussed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir with China's Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman Xu Qiliang when he visited the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi with a high-level delegation on Monday
United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, who opened an emergency session of the 192-member body to discuss the "illegal Israeli actions" in Gaza, briefly clashed with an Israeli diplomat, who questioned the validity of calling the meeting.
Pakistan said that the incipient United States-India nuclear deal has spelled concerns in Islamabad over maintenance of strategic stability in the region, but that it will keep the balance despite its opposition to arms race.
The decision was taken during a ministerial meeting of the four countries on Monday on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly session.
Joined by leaders from all major parties, Modi paid tributes to the Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart, who died last week, at a condolence meeting.
US President Barack Obama, on Friday, sought a new era of engagement with the world where power is no longer a "zero-sum game" as he asked them to share responsibility for tackling key challenges of security and prosperity.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday hours after President George Bush spoke at the same forum, he predicted the defeat of American and NATO alliance in Afghanistan and advised the next rulers of the United States to keep "their interference" in their own borders. The people of Afghanistan, he said, are victims of efforts by NATO member states to "dominate the regions surrounding India, China and South Asia."
"The 21st century world cannot be governed with the institutions of the 20th century," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. "Let today's major powers and the powers of tomorrow unite to shoulder together the responsibilities their influence give them in world affairs," Sarkozy, who is the current president of the EU, said.
Acknowledging the strained diplomatic relations between Malaysia and India over his remarks, Mahathir said that it is necessary to speak out on the issues, even though such remarks could be disliked by some.
The India-Pakistan ties nose-dived in recent years with no bilateral talks taking place. The ties between the two countries had strained after Pakistan-based terror groups launched attacks in India in 2016.
There is growing acceptance of the idea in the international community that engaging the Taliban government is a far better approach than ostracising it, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Should India cancel Sunday's meet with the Pakistani premier or should the dialogue continue? Cast your vote here.
A day after a blast at Ajmer dargah claimed three lives, India asked the international community to send a clear signal to terrorists and their sponsors that their action will not be tolerated irrespective of the motivation and the underlying cause. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly's legal committee, Indian Ambassador Nirupam Sen asked the nations to devise a global response to deal with terrorism, saying nothing can justify the senseless killing of innocents
Do you agree with the minorities' viewpoint that that the government is enforcing 'Hindu practices' on them forcefully?
The transcript of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be going on a ten-day-long tour starting from September 22. In the last leg of his tenure, Dr Singh has quite an elaborate and action-packed tour that will cover four major events in two continents.
The event is the third meeting between the two leaders in three months, after the G-20 summit in Japan in June and the G-7 summit in France last month.
The world's poorest nations have benefitted the least from globalisation and yet suffered the most from the phenomenal downsides, United Nations General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa said.
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