UNGA President meets Dhankar, thanks India for strong support

Arul Louis

United Nations, Aug 28 (IANS) UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid met India's Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar and Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra in New Delhi on Sunday.

Shahid tweeted that during the meetings he thanked India for its strong support for his "Presidency of Hope", as he had billed the vision for his tenure.

Arriving in New Delhi on Sunday on a two-day visit, he also met UN staff and tweeted after the meeting: "The UN is committed to supporting India's national priorities to bring transformational change with the goal of #SabkaSaatSabkaVikas" - a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan of "Together, for everyone's development".

Shahid tweeted that with Dhankar, "Our discussions touched on my five priorities during #UNGA76, particularly recovering from COVID19 & responding to the needs of the planet".

The other points in his priorities for the current General Assembly session, the 76th, were rebuilding sustainably, respecting the rights of all, and revitalising the UN.

"Discussed the major challenges & achievements of #UNGA76" and "commended India for its strong commitment to multilateralism & efforts for world peace & security", he tweeted about his meeting with Kwatra.

India had backed Shahid's election as the Assembly President and lent him the services of senior Indian diplomat Nagaraj Naidu to be his chief of staff.

Shahid, who was the Foreign Minister of the Maldives, completes his term as Assembly President next month.

During his tenure, he took on an important role in international diplomacy as the Assembly pushed for enhancing it role as the Security Council failed to act on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Invoking the format of the Uniting for Peace resolution, a provision for the Assembly to take up issues when the Council is unable to act, the Assembly met under his presidency to take up the issue and demanded an end to the invasion.

The Council members are also required now to explain their vetoes before the Assembly.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at [email protected] and followed at @arulouis)