NEW DELHI: Concrete and result-oriented action at the UN Security Council for an effective response to international terrorism and reformed multi-lateralism to reflect contemporary realities will be among India’s top priorities as a non-permanent member of the Council, External Affairs Minister Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday.
India is a candidate for a non-permanent seat at the UNSC for a two-year term beginning January 2021. As Jaishankar said, this election will take place at the United Nations on June 17 and India is the single endorsed candidate from its regional group.
The minister, while releasing a brochure on India’s priorities, said the world is facing several different challenges since India was last elected member of the UNSC 10 years ago.
The brochure, he said, reflected in PM Narendra Modi‘s words, India’s ‘5S’ approach to the world — samman (respect), samvad (dialogue), sahyog (cooperation), shanti (peace) and samriddhi (prosperity).
“Through this approach, we seek to move toward a ‘New Orientation for a Reformed Multilateral System’, – also known as NORMS,” he said.
Listing the challenges, the minister said traditional and non-traditional security challenges continued to grow unchecked and that terrorism is the most egregious of such examples.
Jaishankar said the normal process of international governance had been under increasing strain as frictions have increased.
The minister also said global institutions remained unreformed and under-representative and, therefore less able to deliver. The Covid-19 pandemic, he added, and its grave economic repercussions will test the world like never before.
“Jaishankar emphasised India’s long-standing role as a voice of moderation, an advocate of dialogue and a proponent of international law. He set out India’s principled approach to international relations, which India’s foreign policy establishment would bring to the table at the UN Security Council once India is elected to a two-year term on the Council,” said the MEA in a statement.