External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday launched India's official campaign for a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council for the 2028-29 term.
Jaishankar launched the campaign 'Shanti: India for the United Nations Security Council 2028-29. Norms, Trust, Integrity' for the two-year tenure at a special event in the UN headquarters attended by UN envoys, diplomats and officials.
"It's a pleasure to join you today afternoon to launch India's Candidature to serve as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the term 2028-29. We do so at a time when the world is facing a profound paradox. Never before has the world possessed such immense capabilities to advance human welfare at this scale. At the same time, we are witnessing levels of conflict, violence and instability that threaten even those who may be very far away. To address this complexity, the United Nations must take the lead and the Security Council elections to its membership consequently assume rating," Jaishankar said.
"As a candidate, it is natural that member states would like to understand what India brings to the table. One part of that is our vision of the priorities that the world and the United Nations must address. The other is a track record which enables the international community to make its own judgment," he added.
India last sat at the UN horseshoe table for the 2021-22 term.
Elections for the 2028-29 term will be conducted in June next year, when India and Tajikistan will compete for the sole seat in the Asia-Pacific Group category.
Jaishankar will also meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres later in the day. He had undertaken an official visit to Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman from July 5-10 and arrived in New York over the weekend.
He will depart New York to attend the 3rd India-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting and interact with his EU and Belgian counterparts in Brussels on July 14-15.
The UNSC elections will come amid significant geopolitical shifts as the world continues to grapple with challenges such as the Ukraine war, the Gaza conflict and the US-Israel war against Iran.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the Parliament of Indonesia last week, had said that the global order is changing rapidly, and in this context, "developing countries like ours are seeking equal participation and a greater role in global affairs. In this evolving global landscape, India firmly believes that reforms in the United Nations Security Council can no longer be delayed."
India has been at the forefront of years-long efforts for achieving reform of the Security Council, including expansion in both its permanent and non-permanent categories, saying the 15-nation Council, founded in 1945, is not fit for purpose in the 21st Century and does not reflect contemporary geopolitical realities.
New Delhi has consistently underscored that it rightly deserves a permanent seat at the horseshoe table.
India has called for an expansion in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of UNSC membership, cautioning that reform of the UNSC will border on "failure" if only its non-permanent category of membership is expanded, as this will "fundamentally" not change the decision-making power structure of the five permanent members.
With the UNSC reform process moving at a snail's pace through the decades, India asserted that the "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" approach must not become a tool to block progress.
"Status-quoists have tried to use this argument in their favour and thereby, entrench the existing inequities in the Security Council," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni had said last month.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
