External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meets António Guterres, U.N. Secretary General on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session, in New York on September 26, 2023
| Photo Credit: ANI

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with the top U.N. leadership here and discussed India’s G20 Presidency, regional issues and global challenges, sustainable development goals and Security Council reforms.

A day before he addresses the General Debate at the ongoing high-level United Nations General Assembly session, Mr. Jaishankar met with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and President of the 78th session of the General Assembly Dennis Francis on Monday at the headquarters of the world organisation.

He also met with the United Nations Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner.

Mr. Jaishankar said it was a “pleasure” to meet with Mr. Guterres and that he discussed “how India’s G20 Presidency has contributed to strengthening” the U.N.’s sustainable development agenda.

“We have coordinated closely in this regard over the last year,” Mr. Jaishankar wrote on X, adding that he appreciated Mr. Guterres’ strong commitment to reforming international financial institutions.

In a readout of the meeting issued by the U.N. spokesperson’s office, Mr. Guterres “expressed appreciation for India’s cooperation with the U.N. and its leadership of the G20”.

Mr. Guterres and Mr. Jaishankar also “discussed the situations in Afghanistan, Myanmar, and other global challenges”, according to the readout.

The U.N. secretary-general attended the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 held under India’s Presidency of the grouping.

Before his meeting with Mr. Guterres, Mr. Jaishankar met Mr. Francis and welcomed his appreciation of the outcomes of India’s G20 Presidency.

“Confident that it would contribute to the U.N. General Assembly’s discourse and deliberations. Agreed on the importance of reforming multilateralism and giving the Global South its due on crucial issues of our times,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

In a post on ‘X’, Mr. Francis said he was “delighted” to meet Mr. Jaishankar and congratulated him on India’s “successful G20 Chairmanship, especially on India’s unwavering advocacy in support of the Global South”.

Mr. Francis added that he discussed priorities and key issues of the 78th UNGA session, including UNSC reforms and building on the outcomes of the Sustainable Development Goals Summit held during the high-level week ahead of the Summit of the Future to be held in 2024.

Mr. Jaishankar also thanked Mr. Francis for his presence at the special ‘India-UN for Global South: Delivering for Development’ side event. The minister hosted the event in New York on Saturday.

In his meeting with Mr. Steiner, Mr. Jaishankar appreciated the UNDP’s engagement with India’s G20 Presidency initiatives. “Can work together to scale up Indian success stories for global benefit,” he said.

Mr. Jaishankar also met with the Foreign Minister of the UAE Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in New York.

“Always a pleasure to meet FM @ABZayed of UAE, this time in New York. Appreciate the rapid progress in our bilateral cooperation. Value our regular exchange of perspectives on regional and global issues,” he posted on ‘X’ later.

The external affairs minister said he had a “warm meeting with our SAGAR partner”, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Madagascar Yvette Sylla.

“Discussed development partnership, millets and rice production, digital delivery and defence cooperation,” he tweeted.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday, announced that Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend the 18th G20 Summit in New Delhi, instead of President Xi Jinping. The ministry released an official statement on its website.

Here are 5 facts about Chinese Premier Li Qiang

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to New Delhi to participate in the G20 leaders summit from September 7-10, making her fourth visit to India in 10 months, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.

Ms. Yellen intends to focus at the summit on strengthening the global economy and supporting low-and middle-income countries by advancing efforts on debt restructurings, the evolution of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and building International Monetary Fund trust fund resources, the Treasury said.

She will “continue to build momentum” for her drive to evolve the World Bank and other multilateral lenders to boost financing capacity to aid developing countries’ clean energy transitions, tackle pandemics, fragility and conflict, it said.

The Treasury estimates that the lenders collectively can unlock $200 billion in new financing over a decade with balance sheet measures now being implemented or under discussion.

Also read | IMF managing director to attend G20 summit in Delhi after trips to China and Indonesia

The Treasury said Ms. Yellen also will rally America’s G20 allies to maintain economic support for Ukraine and increase costs on Russia over Moscow’s continuing war in Ukraine. This includes supporting the G7-led price cap on Russian oil exports and efforts to strengthen global food security in the face of restrictions on Ukrainian grain exports.

At the same time, the Treasury said Ms. Yellen will work to deepen U.S. bilateral ties with India, a country she first described last November as a prime “friend-shoring” destination and alternative to China for U.S. investment and supply chains.

Also read | Help us make G20 summit a success: PM Modi

Treasury’s statement did not mention specific bilateral meetings.

On the sidelines of last year’s G20 Summit in Indonesia, Ms. Yellen met with the People’s Bank of China’s then-governor Yi Gang in first of several face-to-face meetings with senior Chinese officials in recent months to ease rocky U.S.-China ties, culminating in her visit to Beijing in July.