President-elect of the United Nations General Assembly and the current Maldives Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid on Thursday called publicly supported India’s bid for a seat at the United Nations Security Council as a permanent member.
“We support the membership of India in the Security Council as a permanent member. As President of the General Assembly, it would be my role to bring the countries together, and try to form a broad consensus on Security Council reform process,” he said.
Calling “terrorism” a “scourge”, he said that the Council needs to address it comprehensively in its next Session.
“Terrorism is a scourge that has been in this region, in many parts of world & has taken lives of many civilians. It doesn’t know any religion, borders or humanity. It’s evil. We need to address it comprehensively,” Shahid, who is also the Foreign Minister of the Maldives, told news agency ANI
Shahid, the President-elect of the 76th Session of the UNGA, arrived in India on Wednesday on a three-day visit.
“The United Nation deals with terrorism issues in the Sixth Committee, the convention that has been mandated to come out of the Sixth Committee continues to be negotiated. So, I’m hoping that the 76th Session will see some progress,” he added.
India had supported Shahid’s candidature to the top post and this is his first visit to any country after being elected to the prestigious post on June 7.
Commenting on the Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean waters, in trade and defence, Shahid said that a lot of small island countries found it difficult to repay development loans borrowed from China.
“The previous government had taken a lot of development loans from China. Repayment was a challenge during Covid-19 for many countries…not only the Maldives, but for all small island countries as well as the LDCs (Least Developed Country). We have been able to talk to China and many other countries from whom we had borrowed. Through the DSSI (Debt Service Suspension Initiative) process, we are being given room to breathe. I think it is of great appreciation that the G7 has come up with DSSI process,” the Maldives Foreign Minister said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will host an official dinner in the honour of the President-elect of the UN General Assembly.
“Shahid will pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hold talks with EAM Jaishankar on key international, multilateral, regional and bilateral issues of mutual interest,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
An agreement for high-impact community development projects to be implemented with Indian assistance in the Maldives will also be signed during the visit.
