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India assumes presidency of UN Security Council for August with maritime security, counter-terrorism as top priorities

Geneva: India has assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the month of August on Sunday. As the president of the UNSC, India will now decide the UN body’s agenda for the month and also coordinate important meetings on a range of issues. This month the UNSC will organize events in maritime security, peacekeeping and counter-terrorism and a solemn event in memory of peacekeepers.

‘It is a singular honour for us to be presiding over the Security Council the same month when we are celebrating our 75th Independence Day,’ said India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti.

‘India has just assumed the presidency of The UN Security Council on 1st August. India and France enjoy historical and close relations. I thank France for all the support which they’ve given us during our stint in the Security Council,’ he further added.

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‘Security Council will also have on its agenda several important meetings including Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, and the Middle East. Security Council will also be adopting important resolutions on Somalia, Mali, & UN Interim Force in Lebanon,’ TS Tirumurti said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also preside over a meeting of the UNSC. And he will be the first Indian Prime Minister to do so.

‘In 75 plus years, this is the first time our political leadership has invested in presiding over an event of UNSC. It shows that leadership wants to lead from the front. It also shows that India and its political leadership are invested in our foreign policy ventures. Although this is a virtual meeting, it’s still a first meeting of the sort for us. So, it is historic. The last time an Indian PM was engaged in this effort was the then PM PV Narasimha Rao in 1992 when he attended a UNSC meeting,’ said Former permanent representative of India to the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin.

India had been presided the UNSC earlier nine times in June 1950, September 1967, December 1972, October 1977, February 1985, October 1991, December 1992, August 2011, and November 2012.

This will be India’s first presidency during its 2021-22 tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. India began its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the UNSC on January 1, this year.

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