At a critical time in the history of the United Nations, when the global order itself may be reshaped, following a devastating pandemic, India has chosen an experienced, charming and upright diplomat to lead the Indian delegation to the UN in New York.
Deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has issued a strong warning against threats to ban her Awami League party, calling the demands "audacious" and accusing Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus of being a "fraud" and "corrupt" for his role in the current interim government. Hasina, who fled Bangladesh in August 2024 following a student-led uprising, claims Yunus assumed power through a "meticulous design" with funding from overseas and misled students and people. She asserts that her Awami League is the legitimate party, with a strong history of fighting for the people's rights, and accuses Yunus and his supporters of having no constitutional basis or people's mandate to rule the country.
India has been at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.
Real negotiations to reform the United Nations Security Council, for which India, Japan, Germany and Brazil have been pressing for a long time, may begin this year to meet demands to enlarge the top world body and include these countries as permanent members.
India said the prevailing architecture of the UN Security Council has proved to be grossly inadequate in effectively dealing with current challenges such as the conflicts in the Middle East and the rise of ISIS as it called for urgent reform of the UN body.
In a post on X, Modi said, "Happy to have welcomed @POTUS @JoeBiden to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Our meeting was very productive."
The talks between the two leaders covered the entire gamut of bilateral ties as well as key regional and global issues, including the Ukraine conflict.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for deeper ties in key areas of counter-terrorism, climate change and UN reforms.
Saran said there was considerable sentiment in African countries which recognised that the biggest beneficiary of Security Council reforms would be Africa.
The Biden administration has reaffirmed its commitment to support India's permanent membership in a reformed UN Security Council and New Delhi's entry to the Nuclear Suppliers' Group.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived on Monday night on his way back home from New York after concluding a five-day visit during which he attended the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly.
The United Nations General Assembly today elected Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela as the new non-permanent members of the Security Council for a two-year term beginning in January next year.
External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh maintained that India will demand veto power if it gets the permanent seat in the Security Council.
India asked NAM nations to adopt a "zero tolerance" approach to terrorism while strongly pitching for a comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council and global financial institutions to ensure greater say for developing countries.
Amid growing global concerns over terrorism, India will seek early establishment of a United Nations convention on combating the scourge at the upcoming UN General Assembly session
Sounding positive to United States President Barack Obama's endorsement of India's bid for permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, China on Tuesday said it understands New Delhi's "aspirations" to play a bigger role in the UN and is ready for consultations with it over reform of the world body.
Sharma was confident that New Delhi would occupy its rightful place on the UNSC.
Sushma in her address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers meeting said that terrorism is an enemy of basic human rights.
Early reform of the United Nations Security Council, terrorism and peacekeeping will be among the main issues that India will pursue during the world body's General Assembly session, Indian ambassador to the UN has said.
Hosting a summit of leaders of Germany, Japan and Brazil under the G-4 format, the PM said the UNSC "must include the world's largest democracies, major locomotives of the global economy, and voices from all the major continents" to carry "greater credibility and legitimacy".
The issue of veto came up for discussion during the talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi, who is on a two-day visit to India, in New Delhi.
India will sit in the 15-nation United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the 2021-22 term as a non-permanent member - the eighth time that the country has had a seat on the powerful horseshoe table.
'Antonio Guterres takes over as the UN secretary-general with tremendous goodwill as the process of his election was without the usual horse trading and compromises.' 'We have every reason to believe that he will be sensitive to Indian positions,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India has slammed the "indifference" of some UNSC towards restraining terrorists, saying it has questioned the Security Council's ability to combat terrorism.
At a joint media briefing with Lavrov, Jaishankar listed issues such as "factors of instability" such as terrorism and its cross-border manifestation and said it remains a "major concern".
India and Brazil on Wednesday called for urgent progress in reforms of the UN Security Council, as they agreed to scale up bilateral ties and deepen cooperation in international fora.
India, which has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the UNSC, began its two-year tenure at the Council on Friday last.
The agenda is to give a concrete shape to a Development Bank and pitch for reforms of the UN Security Council.
Modi, who met Putin last week on the sidelines of the 22nd meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan's Samarkand, had told the Russian leader that "today's era is not of war".
Pakistan has objected to the exclusion of Jammu and Kashmir from a list of disputes under the observation of the Security Council in a speech made by UK's top diplomat in an annual debate on UNSC reforms in New York.
The President of the Security Council for December said India has taken the side of peace and favours de-escalation through diplomacy and dialogue.
India and China have resolved the stand-off at the Ladakh border and withdrawal of troops will begin on Friday and be completed by September 30, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said describing the resolution of the issue as a "big accomplishment."
In his opening remarks at the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Modi also said that some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of their policy and the grouping must not hesitate to criticise them.
Heaping praise on India, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the Indian leadership is 'self-directed' and led by the country's national interests, according to Reuters.
'Human rights issues continue to be exploited selectively, more often for narrow short-term political ends,' Modi tells Ban.
PM Modi on Saturday met PM Abe and invited Japan to be part of the 'Make in India' programme.
Mukherjee conferred with the Jordanian monarch on a wide variety of subjects, including terrorism, UN Security Council reforms, enhancement of bilateral trade.
The strategic pacts were inked after the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe during which they also discussed international and regional issues of mutual importance including UN security reforms.
Seeking China's backing for a permanent United Nations Security Council seat for India, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday called on Beijing to 'review' its policies on UN reforms to 'welcome' its neighbour to the core group of the world body."Indeed, even on the complex issue of UN reforms, it is time for China to review previously held positions and welcome the presence of, in the Security Council, a nation with which it has much in common," Krishna said.
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