External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived in New York to represent India at the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session. Ms. Swaraj is expected to hold about 20 bilateral and trilateral meetings with leaders attending the session.
She was received at the airport by the Indian Ambassador to the United States Navtej Sarna, and India’s permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin.
Ms. Swaraj would kick off her official engagement later in the day with a trilateral meeting with her American and Japanese counterparts Rex Tillerson, and Taro Kono respectively. Swaraj will most likely push for increased cooperation between the India-US-Japan-Australia ‘Security Diamond’, also known as the ‘Quad’.
Syed Akbaruddin has ruled out a bilateral meeting between Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart. However, the two leaders are likely to see each other during several multilateral meetings including that of SAARC and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
Aimed at lending momentum to cooperation among the three countries, the meeting also turns significant amid China flexing its muscles in the region.
Ms. Swaraj will also participate in a high-level meeting on UN reforms, hosted by the US and chaired by President Trump.
India is among the 120 countries to support the reform efforts of the UN Secretary General.
India has said that the UN reforms need to be “broad-based and all-encompassing” and the changes should not be restricted to its Secretariat only.
Ms. Swaraj will also participate in a special panel of selected countries by the UN Secretary General on climate action and will address the UNGA on September 23.
The Minister is scheduled to have a series of meetings including that with Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics and her Bolivian counterpart Fernando Huanacuni Mamani.
