Syed Akbaruddin on PM Modi’s visit to UN: ‘This level of engagement has never been attempted’

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his week in New York on Monday, after his engagements in Houston, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin underlined that India’s engagement has been “fundamentally altered”.

Prime Minister will attend the United Nations Secretary General’s summit on Climate Change on Monday, followed by a high-level meeting on Universal Health Coverage. He will also meet leaders from Qatar, Italy, Niger, Namibia and Maldives on Monday.

He will also address the leaders’ dialogue on “strategic responses to terrorist and violent extremist narratives” on Monday afternoon.

Akbaruddin said that that there will be as many as 75 meetings with leaders between Prime Minister, External affairs minister S Jaishankar and MoS V Muraleedharan and their counterparts — and these will not be “pull-asides or brush-asides”.

In an interview to The Indian Express, he talks about India’s approach, how India plans to handle Pakistan, and his meeting with the Chinese envoy.

What is the main focus of the Prime Minister’s visit to the UN, especially since this is his first visit after 2015?

First, I must tell you that this level of engagement has never before been attempted.

By conservative estimates, there will be meetings with as many as 75 countries, if you look at engagements by the PM, External Affairs minister and Minister of State.

If you look back at the last visit during the UN General Assembly in 2014, there was a General Assembly statement, a few bilateral engagements and some multilateral like the G-4 and BRICS meetings, and that’s it.

This time, our approach has been fundamentally altered. This is an opportunity to engage with international community, and the opportunity is unparalleled.

These are proper meetings with leaders from 75 countries, not pull-asides or brush-asides.

Each one of the leaders — the Prime, Minister, External Affairs minister and the Minister of State, there will be at least 30 minutes duration each meetings they have with their counterparts.

So, the plan is to have intensive engagement, with countries spread far and wide.

How did this plan shape up?

So, how did we get there, see — our role in previous years was different.

When the Prime Minister came here in 2014, he gave his speech at the UNGA and there were some bilateral meetings and he had other engagements, like the Madison Square Garden speech. In 2015, when the Prime Minister came here, he addressed the SDG summit, and again had a few bilateral and had engagements, other than the speech in San Jose.

Now, UN is a place where many small and medium countries come here, with whom one can engage. Every yearm India engages with countries of G-20, BRICS, East Asia and neighbours — in some form or the other.

But, India is not engaging enough with the rest of the world, so here’s an opportunity to engage with the rest of the world.

So, we are going to have the first leaders’ level engagement with leaders from Carribean countries, under the rubric of CARICOM. We have common in cricket, commonwealth and culture, but only official level meetings have taken place. So, PM will engage with 14 of these CARICOM countries.

Similarly, we are going to have a meeting with the leaders from Pacific small islands. PM had met them in Fiji and then, in Jaipur in 2015. Four years have passed, so it’s time to re-connect with leaders of 12 of these countries.

So, engagement with 26 leaders — 14 from CARICOM, 12 from Pacific islands.

So, what’s the thematic focus on India’s engagement at the UN this time.

Look at the UN agenda, it is not only about peace and security: nothing is moving in peace and security, with China, US, Russia. The climate of cooperation is not there in peace and security.

The cooperation at the UN, and the global level is happening in the fields of climate change, health, SDGs, Financing for Development. India will be among the top 6 countries in the world to lead in these sectors, so we are active on this agenda. We need to exploit the opportunity that presents itself before us.

Also, peace and security doesn’t have a natural constituency in India…I mean, how many people at home talk and know about our peacekeeping operations. The defence forces know about it, the elite knows about it.

But, environment and climate change is a big agenda at home — so, there is a natural resonance. Health is offering more opportunities, way more than peace and security agenda.

So, willy-nilly, climate has emerged on its own. We can play a much greater role and increase our profile at the UN.

Look at the Solar alliance, in 1980s, India gave a gift to the UN — like every other country gave one gift each. The Iranians gave a Persian carpet, Saudis gave a Kabbah cloth, what did India give — a replica of the Sun temple in Konark — they are all displayed here at the UN, these gifts from 193 countries. This ties in with our current leadership role in the International Solar Alliance, so there’s a link between heritage and current happenings.

So, has India’s approach also changed in terms of what India is doing at the UN?

Yes, we have moved beyond talk. In the past, we talked about principles. Talk is good, helps in setting norms. But, now — what can we do, implementation is a key element in our approach.

So, we are now ready to walk the talk. We just spent 1 million USD, we are spending on the solar park at the UN. Now, we are showing the ability to act. And in the world, there is a dire need for people to act.

These are the differences and a different approach.

But, Pakistan will raise the issue of Jammu and Kashmir during the UNGA. How does India plan to counter that?

Imran Khan will go down the same route as Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was here last time. They will go down the beaten path. They will stoop more. Our approach will be — if they stoop more, we soar. As Michelle Obama said: “When they go low, we go high.”. They have mainstreamed terrorism, now they will mainstream hate speech.

What about China’s approach at the UNGA? The Chinese envoy to the UN recently came and met you, especially a month after August 16 UNSC consultations.

I will not say anything on this. As I said then, we discussed multilateral cooperation. The pictures and the message, I think, speaks for itself. You can draw your own conclusions.