Dennis Francis, the President of the 78th session of the UN Basic Meeting, recommended Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his workforce for his or her “exceptional” diplomatic experience and dexterity in crafting the “strong” joint declaration of “collaboration” launched throughout the G20 Leaders’ Summit held in New Delhi beneath India’s management.
In an unique interview with PTI, Dennis Francis mentioned “First of all, let me congratulate the government and people of India on the fantastic outcome of the G20 Summit,”.
“I think it’s a testament to the diplomatic skill and dexterity of Prime Minister Modi and his team that they were able to keep the G20 together in issuing a solid joint statement of partnership, which of course, is what we need,” Francis, who assumed his function this month as President of the 193-member UN physique for the 78th session, mentioned.
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“We need to build solidarity, we need cooperation, we need a conciliatory approach to our challenges — all of the things that are spelt out in the declaration,” he added.
India hosted leaders of the world’s largest economies, together with US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov amongst others, for the G20 Leaders’ Summit on September 9 and 10 within the Indian capital Delhi.
As G20 President, India pulled off an enormous diplomatic win with the adoption of the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration on the summit, overcoming main variations within the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The announcement concerning the consensus on the 34-page declaration and its subsequent adoption got here hours after India circulated a brand new textual content to the G20 international locations to explain the Ukraine battle.
“We have just received good news. Due to the hard work of our teams and the support of all of you, the New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Summit Declaration has been agreed on,” PM Modi mentioned to a spherical of applause on the primary day of the summit, forward of his remarks within the ‘One Family’ session.
Francis burdened that India is a key participant within the system, one of many largest international locations on the earth with a dynamic rising market, more and more a technological chief, a frontrunner within the G77 and China group, which is the biggest creating international locations’ group within the UN system.
He mentioned India performs “an extraordinary role, often bringing countries together, particularly countries of the Global South. But not just the South, also cross-culturally, cross-regionally to make a difference on important issues”.
He famous the numerous contributions made by India to UN peacekeeping in addition to to improvement points, combating starvation and vaccine availability.
He notably highlighted India’s function in distributing vaccines internationally, describing it as “an especially essential contribution that India has made to humanity and to the worldwide system.
“India, I might describe as a key companion of improvement, a really energetic, sober member of the worldwide neighborhood, and one (that’s) dedicated to worldwide peace and safety.
“Simply days after the G20 Summit in Delhi, world leaders will collect on the United Nations headquarters for the annual high-level Basic Meeting session, with the Basic Debate beginning on September 19, when Biden is scheduled to deal with heads of state and authorities from the UN podium.
A veteran diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago, Francis was elected President of the Basic Meeting in June and in his deal with to the opening of the 78th UNGA session earlier this month, he underlined that his priorities for the yr forward are peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainability.
As world leaders collect in New York subsequent week amid the continued Ukraine conflict, impacts of the pandemic, international financial uncertainty and a local weather emergency, Francis mentioned his message to the visiting heads of state and authorities might be to be “bold and creative” of their strategy that they take to the high-level week, notably to the Sustainable Growth Objectives (SDGs) Summit, which might be convened on September 18-19.
With solely seven years remaining for the implementation of the SDGs, solely 15 per cent of SDG targets are on monitor to being achieved.
In opposition to this backdrop, the SDG Summit might be a chance for all sectors of society to speed up motion on attaining international objectives. With the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Growth on the midpoint, on the SDG summit world leaders will perform a complete evaluate of the state of the 17 Sustainable Growth Objectives, reply to the impression of a number of and interlocking crises dealing with the world, and supply high-level political steering on transformative and accelerated actions in direction of the goal yr of 2030, the UN mentioned.
Francis famous that individuals internationally are “really depending” on the worldwide system and on the UN to “take action in areas that can make a meaningful difference in their daily lives, such as in poverty alleviation and hunger”.
Francis famous that there are roughly 860 million folks dwelling in starvation and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated their sufferings.
“We need to reach those people, those who are left furthest behind and help them to be their better selves… This is a critical time for us to demonstrate to the world that we have the capacity and the will to act in unison in order to protect people and to protect the planet,” Francis mentioned as he emphasised that “leaving no one behind must mean leaving no one behind on the ground”. He underscored that progress in direction of attaining the SDG targets by 2030 has not been achieved on the tempo that the worldwide neighborhood had hoped for.
When the 17 Sustainable Growth Objectives had been adopted by UN Member States in 2015, nobody had foreseen on the time that there was going to be a worldwide pandemic, a serious conflict in Europe and worldwide peace and stability could be so disrupted, Francis mentioned.
“But we made a commitment and the UN must act on its commitments. The SDG Summit really is the platform for laying the groundwork to return to the tracks for delivery by 2030,” he mentioned. “It is an undertaking that the United Nations gave to the world in 2015 and it’s a matter of honour that we should fulfil that,” Francis mentioned.
With inputs from PTI.