New Delhi:

The term of the current UN Secretary General has entered its final two years and names of candidates are emerging to see who will hold the top UN post next. With the emergence of the Global South, names of several candidates representing it are being heard at the top global body.

There are reports of two leaders from the Caribbean that have emerged as frontrunners – Mia Amor Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, and Denzil Douglas, former Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis.

The Caribbean, a region which has faced much neglect over the years from the developed world, has emerged as a significant group of nations contributing to the future of sustainability, economic reforms, and climate resilience.

Since its formation in 1945, the leadership of the United Nations has been held by major global powers, often called the developed world or ‘first-world nations’. The growing prominence of the Global South is now offering a different and new perspective of how common global challenges must be viewed in order to consider the concerns of nations who till now went unheard.

The common challenges the world faces as a whole, often has the greatest impact on the Global South. Be it climate change or global economic volatility, getting a holistic view is crucial to addressing these issues. A massive part of global sustainable development goals and eradicating poverty and battling malnutrition are also linked to nations of the Global South.

The names of Ms Mottley and Mr Douglas – both influential figures – are being welcomed. The two leaders from the Caribbean are widely respected and have supported each other in their part of the world. In the race to the top UN post, should either leader support the other, it will greatly boost the chance of the other to secure the seat.

The Caribbean Community, which has a grouping called the CARICOM, has support from rising global powers like India too. India also holds an annual summit with Caribbean nations called the India-CARICOM Summit – the most recent one being held in Georgetown in November, 2024.

It is not known yet if India is planning to field a candidate of their own for the top post, but should they decide not to, and instead, support the Global South in its representation at the top, it would be a huge boost for the Caribbean leader to have support of the world’s fastest-growing major economy and the most populous nation.

The term of the current United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will end on December 31, 2026.
 

File photo of United Nations Secretary General António Guterres.
| Photo Credit: AP

The story so far: On October 2, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced that Israel had banned United Nations Secretary- General (UNSG) António Guterres from entering the country, accusing him of “backing” Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran.

Why did Israel ban the UN chief?

According to Mr. Katz, the decision to declare Mr. Guterres “PNG” (persona non grata) was taken because he hadn’t “unequivocally condemned” Iran’s missile strikes on Israel earlier in the week, and thus the UNSG does not “deserve to set foot on Israeli soil”. Mr. Katz also claimed that the UNSG had not denounced the terror attack by Hamas on October 7 last year, which left about 1,200 Israelis dead, and 250 taken hostage. The UNSG and UN bodies have, in fact, condemned the attack a number of times. In a statement in April, Mr. Guterres had condemned the use of “sexual violence, torture and kidnapping of civilians”, calling the “horror unleashed by Hamas” unjustifiable. In the context of the latest escalation, which included Israel’s strikes on Lebanon that killed hundreds and took out the top leadership of Hezbollah, as well as Iran’s launch of 200 missiles targeting Israeli bases, Mr. Guterres named neither country, saying in a statement that he “condemned” the broadening of the West Asia conflict, calling for a ceasefire. A day after the Israeli ban was announced, the UNSG issued a clarification, saying that he “strongly condemned” the “massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.” However, Israel has not withdrawn the ban.

Is there a history to Israel-UN tensions?

The ban on Mr. Guterres is part of a larger Israeli argument against the UN, which it claims is run by the “anti-Israel” bloc of Arab and Islamic countries and affiliated organisations like UNRWA that it alleges are involved with Hamas. At the UN General Assembly last week, angry at a number of UN resolutions backed by a big majority of countries that called for a ceasefire and criticised Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the UN an “anti-Semitic swamp”. Israel has in the past banned UN Special Rapporteurs and other senior officials accusing them of “bias” against Israel and in favour of the Palestinian side. Last year, outraged at Mr. Guterres’ remarks to the UNSC that the October 7 attacks had not occurred “in a vacuum” and that they followed “56 years of suffocating occupation” of Palestinian areas, Israel banned then-UN Under-Secretary General Martin Griffiths. Alongside his comments on Hamas, Mr. Guterres has also been consistently critical of Israeli bombardment of Gaza. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed thus far, including 15,000 minors, and a record number of 135 UN personnel working with Palestinian refugees, which the UNSG called a “moral stain”, referring to Gaza as a “graveyard for children.”

Has such a ban happened before?

According to former Indian Permanent Representative to the UN, Asoke Mukerji, the ban on the UNSG is “unprecedented”, recalling that the closest a country came to such an action was in 1950, when the then-USSR accused UNSG Trygve Lie of bias on the Korean crisis and threatened to veto his re-election. Citing the UN charter (Article 100, para 2), which says “each Member of the United Nations undertakes to respect the exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secretary-General and the staff and not to seek to influence them in the discharge of their responsibilities,” Mr. Mukerji told The Hindu, “we all need the Secretary-General for substantive and logistical reasons.” In 1987, the U.S. had banned Kurt Waldheim who had earlier been UNSG (1972-1981) and Austrian President (1986-1992), when it emerged that he had been complicit in Nazi war crimes during his time in the Austrian Army in the Second World War.

How has the world reacted to Israel’s ban?

A day after the ban was announced, the UN Security Council issued a statement, which is only possible with the concurrence of all P-5 members, that said “any decision not to engage with the UN Secretary-General or the United Nations is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East.” The U.S. State Department called it “not productive to improving [Israel’s] standing in the world.” Even the Ministry of External Affairs, that has taken care not to be over-critical of Israel, was dismissive. “Mr. Guterres is the UNSG for us. What somebody else says about it, what third person says is not our area of outlook or a matter to comment on,” said spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday.

Facing a swirl of conflicts and crises across the fragmented world, leaders attending this week’s annual United Nations gathering are being challenged: Work together — not only on front-burner issues but on modernising the international institutions born after World War II so that they can tackle the threats and problems of the future.

United Nations (UN) secretary-general Antonio Guterres issued the challenge a year ago after sounding a global alarm about the survival of humanity and the planet: Come to a “Summit of the Future” and make a new commitment to multilateralism – the foundation of the United Nations and many other global bodies – and start fixing the aging global architecture to meet the rapidly changing world.

At UN summit, India calls for global shift to sustainable living

The U.N. chief told reporters last week that the summit “was born out of a cold, hard fact: international challenges are moving faster than our ability to solve them.” He pointed to “out-of-control geopolitical divisions” and “runaway” conflicts, climate change, inequalities, debt and new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence which have no guardrails.

The two-day summit started on Sunday (September 22, 2024), two days before the high-level meeting of world leaders begins at the sprawling U.N. compound in New York City.

The General Assembly approved the summit’s main outcome document — a 42-page “Pact of the Future” — on Sunday morning (September 22, 2024) with a bang of the gavel by Assembly President Philémon Yang signifying consensus, after the body voted 143-7 with 15 abstentions against considering Russian-proposed amendments to significantly water it down.

The pact is a blueprint to address global challenges from conflicts and climate change to Artificial Intelligence and reforming the U.N. and global institutions. Its impact will depend on its implementation by the Assembly’s 193 member nations.

“Leaders must ask themselves whether this will be yet another meeting where they simply talk about greater cooperation and consensus or whether they will show the imagination and conviction to actually forge it,” said Agnès Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International. “If they miss this opportunity, I shudder to think of the consequences. Our collective future is at stake.”

The summit is the prelude to this year’s high-level meeting, held every September. More than 130 Presidents, Prime Ministers and monarchs are slated to speak along with dozens of Ministers, and the issues from the summit are expected to dominate their speeches and private meetings, especially the wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan and the growing possibility of a wider Mideast war.

“There is going to be a rather obvious gap between the Summit of the Future, with its focus on expanding international cooperation, and the reality that the U.N. is failing in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group. “Those three wars will be top topics of attention for most of the week.”

Rights of future generations must guide climate debate

One notable moment at Tuesday’s opening assembly meeting: U.S. President Joe Biden’s likely final major appearance on the world stage, a platform he has tread upon and revelled in for decades.

At the upcoming meetings, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters this week: “The most vulnerable around the world are counting on us to make progress, to make change, to bring about a sense of hope for them.”

She said, “To meet the many global challenges, the U.S. focus at the U.N. meetings will be on ending “the scourge of war.” Roughly two billion people live in conflict-affected areas.”

Last September, the war in Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took center stage at the U.N. global gathering. But as the first anniversary of Hamas’ deadly attack in southern Israel approaches on October 7, the spotlight is certain to be on the war in Gaza and escalating violence across the Israeli-Lebanon border, which is now threatening to spread to the wider Middle East.

Iran supports both Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants. Its new President, Masoud Pezeshkian will address world leaders on Tuesday afternoon (September 24, 2024.) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to speak on Thursday morning (September 26, 2024) and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday afternoon.

As UN meets, Haitians express hopelessness at finding an international solution to gang crisis

Mr. Zelenskyy will get the spotlight twice. He will speak on Tuesday (September 24, 2024) at a high-level meeting of the U.N. Security Council — called by the United States, France, Japan, Malta, South Korea and Britain — and will address the General Assembly on Wednesday morning (September 25, 2024.) .

Slovenia, which holds the council’s rotating presidency this month, chose the topic “Leadership for Peace” for its high-level meeting on Wednesday, challenging its 15 member nations to address why the U.N. body charged with maintaining international peace and security is failing — and how it can do better.

“The event follows our observation that we live in a world of grim statistics, with the highest number of ongoing conflicts, with record high casualties among civilians, among humanitarians, among medical workers, among journalist,” Slovenian U.N. Ambassador Samuel Zbogar told reporters. He cited a record-high 100 million people driven from their homes by conflict.

“The world is becoming less stable, less peaceful, and with erosion of the respect for the rules, it is sliding into the state of disorder,” Mr. Zbogar said. “We have not seen this high need to rebuild trust to secure the future ever before.”

A key reason for the Security Council’s dysfunction is the deep division among its five veto-wielding permanent members. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, is a supporter of Ukraine alongside Britain and France. Russia invaded Ukraine and has a military and economic partnership with China, though Beijing reasserted its longstanding support for every country’s sovereignty without criticising Russia in a recent briefing paper for the U.N. meetings.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be at the United Nations this week along with Mr. Biden. But Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping are sending their Foreign Ministers instead. Neither Mr. Putin nor Mr. Xi attended last year, either.

Mr. Guterres, who will preside over the whole affair this week, warned that the world is seeing “a multiplication of conflicts and the sense of impunity” — a landscape where, he said, “any country or any military entity, militias, whatever, feel that they can do whatever they want because nothing will happen to them.”

“And the fact that nobody takes even seriously the capacity of the powers to solve problems on the ground,” he said, “makes the level of impunity (on) an enormous level.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the opening ceremony of the ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on September 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told African leaders on Thursday (September 5, 2024) that “injustices” against the continent must be corrected, calling for the region to have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

“Mr. Guterres and more than 50 African leaders are attending this week’s China-Africa forum,” according to state media. Addressing the forum, Mr. Guterres told the leaders that it was time to correct “historic injustices” against the continent.

“It is outrageous… that the continent of Africa still has no permanent seat on the Security Council,” he said. “Many African countries are mired in debt and struggling to invest in sustainable development,” he said.

“Many have no access to effective debt relief, scarce resources, and clearly insufficient… funding,” he added. Mr. Guterres told the gathering that “China’s remarkable record of development — including on eradicating poverty — provides a wealth of experience and expertise”. “It can be a catalyst for key transitions on food systems and digital connectivity,” he said.

“And as home to some of the world’s most dynamic economies, Africa can maximise the potential of China’s support in areas from trade to data management, finance and technology,” Mr. Guterres added.

After three of Earth’s hottest days ever measured, the United Nations (UN) called for a flurry of efforts to try to reduce the human toll from soaring and searing temperatures, calling it “an extreme heat epidemic.”

“If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it’s that we’re all increasingly feeling the heat,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on July 25 at a news conference where he highlighted that Monday (July 22) was the hottest day on record, surpassing the mark set just a day earlier.

“Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere.” Nearly half a million people a year die worldwide from heat related deaths, far more than other weather extremes such as hurricanes and this is likely an underestimate,” a new report by 10 U.N. agencies said.

“Billions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic — wilting under increasingly deadly heat waves, with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius around the world,” Mr. Guterres said. “That’s 122 degrees Fahrenheit and halfway to boiling.” The dire warnings came after a barely noticeable respite in back-to-back record global heat.

The European climate service Copernicus calculated that Tuesday’s global average temperature was 0.01 Celsius (0.01 Fahrenheit) lower than Monday’s all-time high of 17.16 degrees Celsius (62.8 degrees Fahrenheit), which was .06 degrees Celsius hotter (0.1 degrees Fahrenheit) than on Sunday. All three days were hotter than Earth’s previous hottest day in 2023. “We are not prepared,” the U.N. report said.

Mr. Guterres urged countries of the world to adopt several proposals aimed at reducing heat deaths, starting with help to cool and care for the most vulnerable people — the poor, elderly, young and sick.

The UN also called for better heat wave warnings, expanding “passive cooling,” improved urban design, stronger protections for outside workers, as well as greater efforts to tackle human-caused climate change that’s worsening weather extremes.

But officials said most work will have to be done by countries, with the U.N. offering aid and coordination, especially when it comes to beefing up weather warning systems.

If countries adopt the United Nations heat-fighting recommendations, “these measures could protect 3.5 billion people by 2050, while slashing emissions and saving consumers $1 trillion a year,” Mr. Guterres said, citing a U.N. Environment Programme estimate.

“Better heat-health warning systems in 57 countries could save 98,314 lives per year,” the report said, based on World Health Organization and World Meteorological Organization estimates.

“Crippling heat is everywhere, but it doesn’t affect everyone equally,” Mr. Guterres said. “Extreme heat amplifies inequality, inflames food insecurity and pushes people further into poverty.” More than 1,300 people died during this year’s annual Haj pilgrimage after walking in scorching heat.

Earlier this year, India’s prolonged heatwaves resulted in the deaths of at least 100 people. However, health experts say heat deaths are likely undercounted in India and potentially other countries.

Last year, the United States had its most recorded heat deaths in more than 80 years, according to an Associated Press analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The death certificates of more than 2,300 people mentioned excessive heat, including 874 deaths in Arizona.

Deadly heat is not new, but scientists say it has been amplified in scale, frequency and duration with climate change.

Extreme heat, wildfires, floods, droughts and ever more fierce hurricanes are symptoms and “we need to fight the disease,” Mr. Guterres said. “The disease is the madness of incinerating our only home. The disease is the addiction to fossil fuels. The disease is climate inaction.” “Many things are being done, but too little, too late,” he said. “The problem is that climate change is running faster than all the measures that are now being put in place to fight it.” Before July 3, 2023, the hottest day measured by Copernicus was 16.8 degrees Celsius (62.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on August 13, 2016. In the last 13 months that mark has now been beaten 59 times, according to Copernicus.

Humanity is now “operating in a world that is already much warmer than it was before,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said.

“The steady drumbeat of hottest-day-ever records and near-records is concerning for three main reasons. The first is that heat is a killer. The second is that the health impacts of heat waves become much more serious when events persist. The third is that the hottest-day records this year are a surprise,” said Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field.

Field said high temperatures usually occur during El Nino years — a natural warming of the equatorial Pacific that changes weather worldwide — but the last El Nino ended in April.

Field said these high temperatures “underscores the seriousness of the climate crisis.” “Unfortunately people are going to die and those deaths are preventable,” said Kristie Ebi, a public health and climate professor at the University of Washington. “Heat is called the silent killer for a reason. People often don’t know they’re in trouble with heat until it’s too late.” “At some point, the accumulated heat internally becomes too much, then your cells and your organs start to warm up,” Ebi said.

“The “big driver” of the current heat is greenhouse gas emissions, from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas,” Mr. Buontempo said. “Those gases help trap heat, changing the energy balance between the heat coming in from the sun and that escaping Earth, meaning the planet retains more heat energy than before,” he said.

“Other factors include the warming of the Pacific by El Nino; the sun reaching its peak cycle of activity; an undersea volcano explosion; and air with fewer heat-reflecting particles because of marine fuel pollution regulations,” experts said.

Mr. The last 13 months have all set heat records. The world’s oceans broke heat records for 15 months in a row and that water heat, along with an unusually warm Antarctica, are helping push temperatures to record level,” Mr. Buontempo said.

“Yoga has roots in India and is now embraced globally, uniting people with its values of balance, mindfulness and peace,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.

In his message on the 10th International Yoga Day, Mr. Guterres urged people to be inspired by the ancient practice’s timeless values and its call for a more peaceful and harmonious future.

In December 2014, the UN proclaimed June 21 as the International Day of Yoga, recognising its universal appeal. The draft UN General Assembly resolution establishing the International Day of Yoga was proposed by India and endorsed by a record 175 member states.

“The International Day of Yoga recognises the ancient practice’s unmatched power to deliver healing, inner peace and physical, spiritual and mental well-being,” Mr. Guterres said in his message on June 21 as the world celebrated the 10th International Yoga Day.

“With roots in India but now embraced worldwide by people of all faiths and cultures, Yoga unites people with its values of balance, mindfulness and peace with people and planet alike,” Mr. Guterres said in the message posted on X by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.

He noted that this year’s theme ‘Yoga for Self and Society’ reminds “us of Yoga’s important role in enhancing people’s lives and the wider community. On this important day, let us all be inspired by Yoga’s timeless values and its call for a more peaceful and harmonious future,” the UN chief said.

The Permanent Mission of India to the UN organised the commemoration of the 10th International Yoga Day at the North Lawn Area of the UN Headquarters, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the Yoga Day last year in a historic celebration, nine years after he proposed from the UN General Assembly podium for June 21 to be marked as International Yoga Day.

The event was attended by UN envoys, personnel, officials and members of the diaspora as well as yoga enthusiasts and practitioners. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed greeted the attendees with a ‘Namaste’ and said that at its heart, yoga is about unity, the unity of mind, body and spirit.

“It is about you, it is about me, it is about us. And at the UN today, we see how it unites people across cultures and countries,” she said.

Ms. Mohammed added that since the UN General Assembly declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga 10 years ago, the celebration and momentum have grown steadily.

“Today, it brings millions of us together of all ages and diverse backgrounds to honour this ancient tradition,” Ms. Mohammed said as she referred to the Guinness World Record created at last year’s Yoga Day commemoration for most nationalities practising Yoga together. At least 135 countries were represented at the 2023 Yoga session.

“And I was the proud one of those many. That achievement was a wonderful and powerful symbol of Yoga’s global popularity, its universal appeal, and its power to bring people together in their shared interests and their shared humanity,” she said.

Extending greetings for the day with a ‘Namaste’, President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly Dennis Francis said in a virtual message that Yoga has been an integral part of India’s cultural tradition for millennia.

“Over the years, it has spread through the currents of cultural diffusion to every corner of the world, with millions of practitioners who turn to its mental, physical and spiritual benefits,” he said.

He said that Yoga’s benefits, such as a sense of contentment and happiness, physical strength and flexibility, mental fortitude, a sense of empathy and compassion, and inner peace, are all qualities that “should also guide our efforts on the multilateral stage.” Mr. Francis added that Yoga’s ethical guide to living advocates for nonviolence, truthfulness and contentment.

“These principles resonate deeply with the core values of the United Nations, which strive to promote peace, justice, and human dignity worldwide. I therefore see in Yoga a powerful metaphor for the United Nations itself,” he said.

Mr. Francis called on people to embrace the teachings of Yoga, not only as a physical practice but as a guiding philosophy for “our collective efforts in building a better, stronger future for all of humanity.”

Charge d’affaires and Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN Ambassador R. Ravindra said that in the decade since 2014, Yoga has been embraced by people across the globe like never before, and today it has become a symbol of overall well-being, health and peace.

On the occasion, the UN Chamber Music Society performed world music repertoire, and Yoga masters led meditation and Yoga exercises.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar at a global event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York.
| Photo Credit: PTI

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a series of bilateral meetings with his global counterparts on the sidelines of the high-level United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York, exchanging views on reforming multilateralism and cooperation in G20.

He held separate bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Armenia on September 24. Jaishankar said it was a “real pleasure” to meet with Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alicia Bárcena of Mexico.

“Discussed taking forward our Privileged Partnership focussing on business, science & technology, education, economy and traditional medicine. Also exchanged views on reforming multilateralism and our work together in G20,” he said in a post on X.

The External Affairs Minister also met his counterpart from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konakovic and discussed growing bilateral ties with a focus on trade and economy.

Terming his meeting with Konakovic on the sidelines of the UNGA session as “good”, Jaishankar said, “Discussed growing our bilateral ties with (a) focus on trade and economy.” Jaishankar also met with his counterpart from Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan.

“Appreciate his sharing assessment of the current situation in the Caucasus. Affirmed our strong bilateral relationship,” he posted on X.

Jaishankar is scheduled to meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the President of the 78th UN General Assembly session, Dennis Francis, on Monday.

On Saturday, Jaishankar called on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and discussed the progress of the bilateral development partnership and the situation in Myanmar. The two leaders met on the margins of the high-level UN General Assembly session in New York.

“Pleased to call on Prime Minister Hun Manet of Cambodia. Conveyed the warm greetings of PM @narendramodi. Discussed the progress of our development partnership,” Jaishankar posted on X.

“Noted as well our expanding defence and cultural cooperation. Exchanged views on Myanmar,” he added. Jaishankar also held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Cyprus and Uganda on Saturday.

He began a nine-day visit to the U.S. on Friday, primarily to attend the annual session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York and to host a special event on Global South. He would also participate in various plurilateral and bilateral meetings in New York.

He is scheduled to address the General Debate from the UN General Assembly hall on Tuesday.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar at a global event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York.
| Photo Credit: PTI

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a series of bilateral meetings with his global counterparts on the sidelines of the high-level United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York, exchanging views on reforming multilateralism and cooperation in G20.

He held separate bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Armenia on September 24. Jaishankar said it was a “real pleasure” to meet with Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alicia Bárcena of Mexico.

“Discussed taking forward our Privileged Partnership focussing on business, science & technology, education, economy and traditional medicine. Also exchanged views on reforming multilateralism and our work together in G20,” he said in a post on X.

The External Affairs Minister also met his counterpart from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konakovic and discussed growing bilateral ties with a focus on trade and economy.

Terming his meeting with Konakovic on the sidelines of the UNGA session as “good”, Jaishankar said, “Discussed growing our bilateral ties with (a) focus on trade and economy.” Jaishankar also met with his counterpart from Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan.

“Appreciate his sharing assessment of the current situation in the Caucasus. Affirmed our strong bilateral relationship,” he posted on X.

Jaishankar is scheduled to meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the President of the 78th UN General Assembly session, Dennis Francis, on Monday.

On Saturday, Jaishankar called on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and discussed the progress of the bilateral development partnership and the situation in Myanmar. The two leaders met on the margins of the high-level UN General Assembly session in New York.

“Pleased to call on Prime Minister Hun Manet of Cambodia. Conveyed the warm greetings of PM @narendramodi. Discussed the progress of our development partnership,” Jaishankar posted on X.

“Noted as well our expanding defence and cultural cooperation. Exchanged views on Myanmar,” he added. Jaishankar also held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Cyprus and Uganda on Saturday.

He began a nine-day visit to the U.S. on Friday, primarily to attend the annual session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York and to host a special event on Global South. He would also participate in various plurilateral and bilateral meetings in New York.

He is scheduled to address the General Debate from the UN General Assembly hall on Tuesday.