External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reiterated India's deep commitment to multilateralism during his meeting with President of the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly Csaba Kőrösi "discussed the criticality" of Sustainable Development Goals agenda for global progress.
"Delighted to meet @UN_PGA Csaba Kőrösi at UN headquarters. Congratulated him on his priorities for #UNGA77. Assured him of India's fullest support. Discussed the criticality of SDG agenda for global progress. Shared Indian experiences in that regard. Reiterated India’s deep commitment to multilateralism,” Mr. Jaishankar tweeted Monday.
Mr. Jaishankar, in New York for the high-level U.N. General Assembly session, began his hectic diplomatic week with a series of bilateral and multilateral engagements on the sidelines of the high-level session.
Official sources said that while issues such as U.N. reform and inter-governmental negotiations are more closely associated with the office of the President of the General Assembly, for India it is important that Mr. Kőrösi has a strong social development commitment, with focus on issues important for India as well as for the developing countries and global South.
Sources added that India believes that the global agenda should focus much more on the genuine, pressing needs of the international community, which currently are energy security concerns, food security concerns, fertilizer and health concerns, debt concerns and trade disruption concerns.
The sources stressed that there is a growing sense in the world that these issues are not getting their fair share of attention and expressed hope that the new U.N. PGA would focus on such issues.