India is “totally committed” to achieving the 2030 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) said Foreign
Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday, addressing the United Nations
General Assembly’s annual debate, promising to get there ahead of
time, thanks to an “unprecedented economic and social
transformation”, now underway.
Ms. Swaraj said that it had been a “common refrain” since the
SDGs were agreed by 193 countries in 2015, that it would only be
possible to reach the 17 Goals, if India was fully onboard.
“I assure this august gathering…that India will not let you
fail”, she said, adding that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
the “world’s biggest exercise in poverty elimination and social
transformation” – in line with key goals on poverty, equality and
economic development – was already showing results.
She pointed to the recent inclusion of more than 320 million
Indians in the formal banking system, the launch only last week
of “the world’s biggest health insurance programme”, and a
housing scheme which was on target to provide 21 million new
homes by 2022. At the heart of it all, she said, was the
“radical” empowerment of women, with “the welfare of women” at
the core of all socio-economic development initiatives.
Turning to what she called, “the existential threats of climate
change and terrorism”, Ms. Swaraj urged developed nations who had
“exploited nature for their immediate needs” to help “lift the
deprived, with financial and technical resources”, to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris
Agreement on climate change.
In the fight against international terrorism, she accused
neighbouring Pakistan of duplicity: “Pakistan’s commitment to
terrorism as an instrument of official policy has not abated one
bit”, she claimed.
On the state of peace talks between the two States, she said that
it was “a lie” that India had been responsible for sabotaging the
process. “Talks with Pakistan have begun many times. If they
stopped, it was only because of Pakistan’s behaviour,” she said,
claiming that it was Pakistan sabotaging any hopes of dialogue.
Even this past week, she said she had been obliged to cancel a
meeting suggested by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister at UN
Headquarters in New York, after “terrorists” had allegedly killed
three Indian soldiers, asking delegates in the Assembly: “Does
this indicate a desire for dialogue?”
Finally, Ms. Swaraj moved on to reform of the United Nations,
which is a key priority of Secretary-General António
Guterres. “Reform cannot be cosmetic,” she said: “We need
change to the institution’s head and heart to make both
compatible to contemporary reality.”
She said “the importance, influence, respect and value of this
institution is beginning to ebb” but also made a rousing defence
of multilateralism, saying that reform was essential if it was to
thrive.
“We will never weaken the multilateral mechanism. India believes
that the world is a family, and the best means of resolution is
shared discourse…The UN cannot be run by the ‘I’, it only works
by the ‘We’”.
Full statement available
here.
