14-Jun-2022: Cabinet approves Agreement between India and United Nations on a ‘Way Finding Application’ to be used in the Palais des Nations, United Nations Office at Geneva

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal for signing of an agreement between the Government of India and the United Nations on a ‘Way Finding Application’ to be used in the Palais des Nations,  United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG).

The United Nations (UN) is an international organization founded in 1945.  It is currently made up of 193 Member States.  India is a founding member of the United Nations.

The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), consisting of five buildings and 21 floors, is housed at the historic Palais des Nations.  Large number of delegates, members of civil society and general public visit UNOG to participate in various meetings and conventions.

Keeping in view the complexity of buildings and huge participation, there was a requirement of a navigational application which can help the visitors and other delegates in finding their way inside the premises while adhering to all security perspectives.

While the Global Positioning System (GPS) based Apps function in open space, a more precise in-building navigational App will assist the visitors in locating the room and offices.

The project of development of ‘Way Finding Application’ has been conceptualized as donation from the Government of India to UN on the occasion of its 75th anniversary in 2020.  The estimated financial implication for development deployment and maintenance of the App is $ 2 Million.

The project consists of development deployment and maintenance of a software-based ‘Way Finding Application’ to facilitate navigation in the Palais des Nations premises of UNLG.  The application will enable users to find their way from point to point within the 21 floors spread across five buildings of UNOG.  The App will work on Android and iOS devices with an internet connection.  The development of the App has been entrusted to Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), an autonomous telecom Research & Development centre of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India.

The project will be significant contribution from the Government of India to UN.  The project will not only highlight the technical capabilities of India but also enhance the prestige of country at the UN level platform.  The App will make India’s presence felt in the UN and showcase its soft power in the form of strong software technology expertise – a ‘Made in India’ App in the mobiles of who come from across the globe.

25-Sep-2019: PM Modi inaugurates Gandhi Solar Park at UN Headquarters
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a 50 kilowatt 'Gandhi Solar Park' at the Headquarters of the United Nations, on the second leg of his visit to the United States. World leaders including Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and President of South Korea Moon-Jae-in were also present at the occasion in New York.

The leaders also launched a United Nations (UN) postage stamp of Mahatma Gandhi, at the programme 'Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in the Contemporary World' at the UN headquarters. The event was hosted to celebrate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, which will underline the continuing relevance of Gandhian thoughts and values in today's world.

Several Heads of State and Government along with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will grace the occasion to pay our collective tribute to Gandhiji and underscore the significance of his message.

Prime Minister Modi is also scheduled to inaugurate a Gandhi Peace Garden at the State University of New York Campus at Old Westbury in Long Island where 150 trees have been planted in honour of Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary.

Previously, PM Modi has held several bilateral and multilateral meetings with leaders from other countries and UN entities on the margins of the UN General Assembly.

26-Nov-2018: U.N. approves $9 million in aid for crisis-stricken Venezuela

The United Nations announced $9.2 million in health and nutritional aid for crisis-stricken Venezuela, where hunger and preventable disease are soaring amid the collapse of the country’s socialist economic system.

It is the first U.N. emergency funding for the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which blames the country’s economic problems on U.S. financial sanctions and an “economic war” led by political adversaries.

Government critics celebrated the move as a recognition by Venezuelan authorities that the country faces a humanitarian crisis - something Maduro has denied in the past - and a step toward treating a population starved of basic services.

But some worry the funds could fuel the corruption of the ruling Socialist Party, which was put on display last week when a former Venezuelan treasurer told U.S. prosecutors he took $1 billion in bribes.

The U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will support projects to provide nutritional support to children under five years old, pregnant women and lactating mothers at risk, and emergency health care for the vulnerable.

“CERF allocations are made to ensure a rapid response to sudden-onset emergencies or to rapidly deteriorating conditions in an existing emergency,” .

CERF mainly funds projects in countries at war or experiencing other crises like natural disasters while other U.N. agencies may have provided funding to Venezuela through separate programs.

Many governments have been wary of providing direct aid to Venezuela, where officials face sanctions from the United States and Europe for alleged wrongdoing including corruption, human rights abuses and drug trafficking.

8-Nov-2017: India demands transparency in UN Security Council reform

India has demanded transparency in the UN Security Council reform process so that the people could know what is preventing the members from translating discussions into a negotiating text for the much- needed revamping of the world body's top organ.

Indian Ambassador to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said that even after almost a decade is over, UN members have not been able to agree on even a document that would be the basis of negotiating reforms.

In his address to the plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council, Akbaruddin said there was no greater example of institutional inertia that resisted constructive adaptation than the inability to translate discussions into a text for negotiations. This is despite 10 years of so-called intergovernmental negotiations authorised by the General Assembly and the continuous annual consideration of the agenda item here since 1993.

Modern challenges take the concerted efforts not just of Governments, but also of whole societies, and so wider society could be more involved in the diplomatic process. Perhaps, we need to consider options of opening the process, so that others are aware of what is it that stops the current discussions from even beginning on the path of a negotiating text.

Transparency in the working of diplomats is a useful adaptation that we can consider in this changing world as a pathway to progress. On the inordinate delay in reforming the UN Security Council, Akbaruddin told members of the General Assembly, that there is "no more vivid reflection" of deepening crisis of multilateralism than the "dysfunctional Security Council", which no longer reflects contemporary realities and hence confronts a crisis of legitimacy and credibility.

When proliferating transnational threats, deepening economic interdependence, worsening environmental degradation - all call for effective multilateral action - we have fallen short of a substantive response on an issue as important as reform of the Security Council.

7-Jul-2017: Treaty banning nuclear weapons approved at UN

A global treaty has been approved to ban the bombs, a move that supporters hope will lead to the eventual elimination of all nuclear arms. The treaty was endorsed by 122 countries at the United Nations headquarters in New York after months of talks in the face of strong opposition from nuclear-armed states and their allies. Only the Netherlands, which took part in the discussion, despite having US nuclear weapons on its territory, voted against the treaty.

All of the countries that bear nuclear arms and many others that either come under their protection or host weapons on their soil boycotted the negotiations. The most vocal critic of the discussions, the US, pointed to the escalation of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme as one reason to retain its nuclear capability. The UK did not attend the talks despite government claims to support multilateral disarmament.

Countries that possess nuclear weapons are not expected to sign up any time soon, supporters of the treaty believe it marks an important step towards a nuclear-free world by banning the weapons under international law. Biological weapons were banned 45 years ago, chemical weapons 25 years ago, and today nuclear weapons are banned. Within two years the treaty could have the 50-state ratifications that it needs to enter into international law.

Previous UN treaties have been effective even when key nations have failed to sign up to them. The US did not sign up to the landmines treaty, but has completely aligned its landmines policy to comply nonetheless. These kinds of treaties have an impact that forces countries to change their behaviour. It is not going to happen fast, but it does affect them. We have seen on all other weapons that prohibition comes first, and then elimination. This is taking the first step towards elimination.

Under the new treaty, signatory states must agree not to develop, test, manufacture or possess nuclear weapons, or threaten to use them, or allow any nuclear arms to be stationed on their territory.

Instead of scrapping their nuclear stocks, the UK and other nuclear powers want to strengthen the 1968 nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT), a pact that aims to prevent the spread of the weapons outside the original five nuclear powers: the US, Russia, Britain, France and China. It requires countries to hold back from nuclear weapons programmes in exchange for a commitment from the nuclear powers to move towards nuclear disarmament and to provide access to peaceful nuclear energy technology. The new treaty reflects a frustration among non-nuclear states that the NPT has not worked as hoped.

15-Mar-2017: India’s contribution to United Nations rose 55% to Rs 244 crore in 2015-16

India’s contribution to the United Nations rose 55% to Rs 244 crore in 2015-16 compared with the previous fiscal. The government has also made voluntary contributions to the tune of Rs 22 crore to international organisations, including UN agencies, in the last financial year.

Each UN member is required to contribute to the organization's Regular and Peacekeeping budgets. These obligatory contributions are calculated based on a member’s relative ‘capacity to pay’. This is defined through a scale of assessment that takes into account the member country’s Gross National Income relative to the Global Gross National Income, adjusted further for the level of its national external debt and low per capita income. For Peacekeeping budget, since all permanent members of the Security Council bear special responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and security, they must contribute additional amounts.

25-May-2022: India projects itself as a reliable partner, stable economy and an attractive investment destination at World Economic Forum @Davos

Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, who led the team India at World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos from 23-25 May 2022, finished his trip with several high-level engagements aimed at projecting India as a reliable partner, a stable economy and an attractive investment destination. Shri Goyal, who was accompanied by two Union Ministers, viz. Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare and Shri Hardeep Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, leveraged the WEF platform to further help reinforce its position as a crucial stakeholder in shaping the global narrative.

The Minister held meetings with Mr. Khalid Al- Falih, Minister of Investment, Saudi Arabia, Said Mohammed Ahmed Al Saqri, Minister of Economy, Oman and Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, UAE besides Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Nayef Al Hajraf, CEOs of DP World Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, and Khaldoon Al Mubarak CEO & MD, Mubadala Investment Company to take stock of the existing trade & investment relations and emphasized the need for closer integration.

Shri Goyal also met CEOs including Arvind Krishna, CEO IBM, Alexander R. Wynaendts (Chairman-elect, Deutsche Bank, Bill Winters, Group CEO, Standard Chartered Bank, Bruce Flatt, CEO, Brookfield Asset Management Inc, Sanjay Mehrotra, President and CEO, Micron, Pat Gelsinger, CEO, Intel, Alan Jope. CEO, Unilever, Benoit Bazin, CEO, Saint Gobain,  Anil Agarwal, Executive Chairman, Vedanta Resources, wherein he emphasized upon India as a great investment destination with a number of government interventions including Gati-shakti, Asset Monetization program, Start-Up India, National Infrastructure Pipeline and Investment Corridors.

Shri Goyal held meetings with leaders of various countries, regional and multilateral institutions including John F. Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, National Security Council, USA, Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce, US Department of Commerce, Simon Kollerup, Minister for Industry, Businers and Financial Affairs, Denmark, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, DG, WTO, Muhammad Lutfi, Minister of Trade, Indonesia, Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Agency, Queen Maxima of Netherlands, Guy Parmelin, Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of Switzerland, Klaus Schwab, Founder & Chairman, WEF, Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President, European Commission, to project the India story and inform about the reforms being undertaken by the government for improving the ease-of-doing business and the investment climate.

Shri Goyal also addressed a number of sessions, including the Breakfast session Discussion on Trade 4.0, Invest India Round Table on Investment in India, India at 75: Strategic Outlook, The 2030 Industrial Development Agenda and ‘Trade now: what’. In his address the minister emphasized that the India story had been receiving a lot of enthusiasm across the world in spite of constraints like Covid 19, chip shortages, conflict, rising commodity prices, container shortages and significant shipping and logistics issues, which caused massive supply chain disruptions and threw the global economy off balance. Speaking about the recent wheat export regulation, the Minister emphasized that India wheat exports are less than 1% of world trade and our export regulation should not affect global markets. He said that India will continue to allow exports to vulnerable countries and neighbors.

In his next leg of the two-day tour, Shri Goyal is reaching UK tomorrow, where he will hold discussions with UK Government and businesses on the progress made in FTA negotiations and the way forward. During the Summit Meeting between the Prime Ministers of India and the UK, the two leaders had set the timeline of Diwali 2022 for finalization of the FTA between the two countries.

17-Jan-2022: PM delivers ‘State of the World’ special address at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi delivered ‘State of the World’ special address at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda today via video conferencing.

The Prime Minister said that India is tackling another wave of the pandemic with caution and confidence and moving ahead in the economic sphere with many hopeful results. He said that India as a strong democracy, has given a bouquet of hope to the mankind which comprises of Indian’s unwavering faith in democracy, technology that is empowering 21st century and talent and temperament of Indians. The Prime Minister said that during Corona time, India saved many lives by exporting essential medicines and vaccines by following its vision of ‘One Earth, One Health’. India is world’s third largest pharmaceutical producer and is considered ‘pharmacy to the world’, he added.

The Prime Minister said that today, India is providing record number of software engineers. More than 50 lakh software developers are working in India. He informed that India has third largest number of unicorns today. More than 10 thousand start-ups have registered during the last six months. He also talked about the India’s huge, safe and successful digital payments platform and informed that in the last month itself more than 4.4 billion transections took place through Unified Payments Interface. The Prime Minister talked about the measures of enhancing Ease of Doing Business and reduction of the government interference. He mentioned simplification of corporate tax rates and making them the most competitive in the world. India has deregulated areas like Drones, Space, Geo-spatial mapping and has brought reforms in the outdated telecom regulation related with the IT and BPO sectors. “We did away with more than 25 thousand compliances in the year gone by”, he added.

Indicating India’s growing attractiveness as a partner, the Prime Minister said that India is committed to become world’s  reliable partner in global supply-chains and is making way for free trade agreements with many countries. India’s capabilities in innovation, technology adaptation and entrepreneurship spirit makes India an ideal global partner. “This why, this is the best time to invest in India”, he said.   He mentioned Indian Youth achieving  new height of entrepreneurship. He said that as compared to mere 100 start-ups in 2014, India has more than 60 thousand start-ups today. Out of which 80 are unicorns and more than 40 unicorns emerged in 2021 itself.

Underlining India’s confident approach, the Prime Minister highlighted that when the world was focusing on interventions like quantitative easing during the Corona period, India was strengthening the reforms. He listed strides in physical and digital infrastructure like optical fibre in 6 lakh villages, 1.3 trillion dollars investment in connectivity related infrastructure, goal of generation of 80 billion dollars through asset monetization and GatiShakti National Master Plan to bring all the stakeholder on the single platform to infuse new dynamism to the seamless connectivity of goods, people and services. Shri Modi told the forum that not only India is focusing on easing the processes in its quest for self-reliance, it is also incentivizing investment and production. Most clear manifestation of that is 26 billion dollar worth of Production Linked Incentive schemes in 14 sectors, he said. He stressed that India is making policies keeping in mind the goals of next 25 years. In this time period, the country has kept the goals of high growth and saturation of welfare and wellness. This period of growth will be green, clean, sustainable as well as reliable, the Prime Minister emphasized.

The Prime Minister focused on the ecological cost of today’s life style and policies. He pointed towards the challenges that our life-style causes for climate. “‘Throw away’ culture and consumerism has deepened the climate challenge. It is imperative to rapidly move from today’s ‘take-make-use-dispose’ economy to a circular economy”, he stressed. Referring to the Mission LIFE, that he gave at the CoP26 conference, the Prime Minister said that making LIFE into a mass movement can be a strong foundation for P-3 i.e ‘Pro Planet People’. LIFE i.e. ‘Lifestyle for Environment’, is a vision of resilient and sustainable lifestyle that will come handy in dealing with the climate crisis and other unpredictable challenges of the future. Shri Modi also told the forum about India’s impressive record in achieving the climate target well in advance of the target dates.

The Prime Minister emphasized the need to adopt as per the changing realities of the world order. He said that the global family is facing fresh challenges in the changing world order and called for collective and synchronized action from every country and global agency. He cited supply chain disruptions, inflation and climate change as key examples. He also gave example of cryptocurrency where related technologies and their challenges  do not lend themselves to the decisions of any single country. He called to be on one page on this. He asked whether the multilateral organizations are in a position to tackle the challenges of the world order in a changed scenario, as the world has changed from the time when these organization came into being. “That is why it is imperative that every democratic nation should push for reforms of these bodies so that they can come up to the task dealing with the challenges of the present and the future”, he concluded.

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