UN General Assembly President discusses reform with Indian MPs

By Arul Louis

United Nations, Oct 14 (IANS) UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak discussed reform of the UN during a meeting on Friday with the members of Parliament, who are in the Indian delegation to the current session, according to his Spokesperson Brenden Verma.

They also discussed issues relating to migration, peace and sustainable development, Verma said in a briefing to reporters.

Rajya Sabha members, Swapan Dasgupta (nominated) and Renuka Chowdhury (of Congress from Andhra Pradesh), and Lok Sabha member Santosh Ahlawat (of BJP from Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan) are here to participate in the General Assembly session.

India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin accompanied them to the meeting with Lajcak.

"The President of the General Assembly stressed the role of parliamentarians as important channels of communication to the people," Verma said.

Lajcak also invited them "to actively participate in the Parliamentary Hearing on the global compact for safe, orderly and regularly migration, to be held at the United Nations in February."

Noting that India is one of the top contributors to UN peacekeeping operations, Lajcak commended India's strong commitment to multilateralism and the UN, Verma said.

Asked at his briefing about the state of the Security Council reform negotiations, which has been stalled for more than a decade, Verma said Lajcak "will try to use his convening power to bring people, to bring the member states together" so that they can "find areas where there can be some kind of compromise".

"The world pretty much agrees that the Security Council reform must reflect the current geopolitical realities," he said. But "there is so much disagreement among the member states on how to make that happen".

Lajcak has met with a wide range of groups that are interested in Security council reforms to hear their views, Verma said. "He definitely wants to see a meaningful reform that all the member states can believe in."

He will call on his experiences "as a diplomat, as a foreign minister, as a politician, all of that role he has had" to try to make progress with the reform process, Verma added.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

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