Foreign Ministers and UN Dignitaries Commend India’s Progress on its 75th year of Independence

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New York: On the sidelines of the 77^th session of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week, the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations (PMI) in partnership with the United Nations hosted “India@75: Showcasing India-UN Partnership in Action,” at the Lotte New York Palace on September 24, 2022.

India’s Foreign Minister, S. Jaishankar, who chaired the event, stated, “this year India turned 75, and we have a story to tell. In the 18^th century, India accounted for about a quarter of the global GDP. By the middle of 20th, colonialism ensured that we were one of the poorest nations of the world. That was our state when we became a founding member of the United Nations.”

He added, “but in the 75^th year of its independence, India stands before you, proudly, as the fifth biggest economy of the world and is still rising as the strongest, most enthusiastic and definitely the most argumentative democracy. Our development rests on an expansive Digital Public Infrastructure designed to promote that ‘No one is left behind.’”

According to him, India is on its way to being classified as a developed nation by 2047, 100 years since its independence. “We dream of digitizing our most remote villages and landing on the moon, perhaps even digitizing it.”

India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj in her welcome address thanked everyone who gathered to celebrate 75 years of India’s independence as well as honor its valued partnership with the United Nations. “So if you know, India was among the 50 founding members of the United Nations. The World has changed since then. Well, so is India,” adding, “our growth story needs no elaboration. Transformative changes are taking place in every sector in the India of today. We are proud of our traditions and confident of our future. Our development model can be encapsulated to three words inclusive, equitable, and sustainable.”

UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed, who delivered the message of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated, “over the last 75 years India has achieved remarkable progress in equitable and sustainable development lifting over 270 million people out of extreme poverty and rising to become the world’s fifth largest economy.”

The President of the UN General Assembly Csaba Kőrösi, Foreign Ministers of Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, Jamaica, Tanzania, Maldives, Gambia, Timor Leste, Cyprus, France, Yemen and other senior UN dignitaries participated and delivered keynote speeches on diverse topics including Pandemic Management and Vaccines, Water Supply and Health Sector, Climate Action, UN-India Development Partnership Fund, UN Peacekeeping, and Food Security. First Secretary, Second Committee, at PMI, Sneha Dubey, introduced the dignitaries at the event.

Jaishankar also participated in a panel discussion jointly organized by the Reliance Foundation, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), and the United Nations India on “The G20 Imperative: Green Growth and Development for All,” on September 23^rd, at the Mandarin Oriental in New York.

Among other key aspects, Jaishankar along with President of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brende, and Minister of State for Development, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, United Kingdom, Vicky Ford, discussed challenges and expectations at a time when India is set to assume the Presidency of G20 later this year.

Jaishankar underscored that the world is facing multiple crises now and G20 is the ideal body to listen to those issues from the countries affected. As such, there was a decision made to invite more guests this time to listen to issues that are otherwise unrecognized.  He went on to say that both globalization and multilateralism are under attack. The solution is to decentralize globalization, and to see a reformed multilateralism, not a 1945 version of multilateralism.

President of ORF, Samir Saran, moderated the discussion, and CEO of the Reliance Foundation, Jagannatha Kumar, and the United Nations Resident Coordinator in India, Shombi Sharp also spoke at the event.