Jaishankar to address UNGA on Sept 24

New Delhi, September 19

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has over 50 official engagements scheduled in New York and Washington during his stay in the US till September 28. Of the several plurilateral meetings he would attend, at least one could feature his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. The two ministers have already met bilaterally twice this year, as they kept the channels of communication on despite the military stand-off.

The minister is also slated to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington after he completes his engagements in New York, which include addressing the UN General Assembly on behalf of India as well as a likely interaction with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“He will co-host and participate in several bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings during this hectic week,” tweeted India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ruchira Kamboj. Some of India’s main priorities during the high-level UNGA segment will be fair access to vaccines, counterterrorism, peacekeeping, reformed multilateralism and climate action.

Jaishankar will speak from the UNGA platform on September 24. “The five S’s — Samman (respect), Samvad (dialogue), Sahyog (cooperation), Shanti (peace), and Samriddhi (prosperity) — outlined by PM Modi will serve as India’s guiding light in its approach to the 77th session of UNGA,” according to a video released by India’s Permanent Mission to the UN.

There will be bilateral talks with counterparts from Albania, Malta, Egypt, Indonesia, and the UNGA Session’s President Csaba Korosi.

He will also meet UN Secretary-General António Guterres while in New York.

Jaishankar will host a ministerial meeting of the G4 (India, Brazil, Japan, and Germany) and take part in the high-level meeting of the L.69 Group, which is focused on UN Security Council changes.

In Washington, he will also meet other senior members of the US administration, business leaders, and interact with the Indian Diaspora.