UNITED NATIONS: India, one of the top countries contributing to the peacekeeping mission of the UN, has welcomed the US' decision to bring reforms to the practices of the peacekeeping missions of the world body.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikky Haley recently announced that America is changing the way peacekeeping is done by the country.
"On peacekeeping, our views are very clear. Peacekeeping by itself is a tool that the UN uses until it resolves the issues. So, if the US would like to address some of the shortcomings of peacekeeping it's a welcome development," said India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin yesterday.
"We are a major contributing country, but we are also beyond that. India is a major contributing country because we have 7,000 of our troops in the field but we are ready to look at other options that other countries may have," he said, responding to a question on the America's move to carry out reforms in the practices of the peacekeeping missions of the world body.
Akbaruddin refuted any impression that there is any conflict of interest between India and the US on this.
"We do not see a conflict or relationship on that, We see a partnership. We are working with the US on a broad range of peacekeeping initiatives, including training of peacekeepers from Africa. Both India and US work together to train peacekeepers from Africa," he said.
The top Indian diplomat said that peacekeeping is a major major area of activity and India will certainly engage with the US on all fronts on that.
Akbaruddin said India engages with the US bilaterally, plurilaterally and multilaterally.
"You will see that engagement with the US during the course of this week in bilateral interactions, in plurilateral interactions and in multilateral interactions," said the Indian Permanent Representative to the UN.
India is the largest cumulative troop contributor, having provided almost 200,000 troops in nearly 50 of the 71 peacekeeping missions mandated over the past six decades, including 13 of the current 16 missions.