Diplomacy

“A unanimous step. Asia-Pacific Group @UN unanimously endorses India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat of the Security Council for 2 year term in 2021/22. Thanks to all 55 members for their support,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin tweeted Tuesday.

Speaking at the seventh Passport Seva Divas held here, Jaishankar said that the Ministry has also proposed the manufacture of e-passports on priority so that a new passport booklet with advanced security features could be rolled out in the near future.

He also outlined India’s foreign policy going forward, including strengthening global partnerships and global position of India in future.

. India has no other option than to adopt multilateralism and ensure nothing ever goes overboard in the pursuance of national interests when dealing with contradictions and pressures from big powers.

How serious India is to gain UN Permanent Membership would be clear from the fact that the Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has called for renewed efforts by India to gain permanent membership of the UN Security Council. India, an important global power with 1.3 billion people has been calling for reform of the UNSC for quite some time, along with Brazil, Germany, and Japan. It argues that the country has earned the right to contribute to the world’s security.

Delhi (Sputnik): India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar clarified that letters from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar ” to Pakistani officials were merely courtesy replies “as per established diplomatic practice” to congratulatory messages by their Pakistani counterparts.

The Industrial Security Annex (ISA) will add to existing agreements on protection of classified military information and is critical for any transfer of technology by a US firm to its Indian partners. The draft of the annex has been circulated and is likely to get Cabinet clearances in the coming weeks, following which the bilateral agreement will be signed.

The statement holds significance as the NSG in 2011 adopted new guidelines on the transfer of sensitive nuclear technology that will effectively nullify the “clean” waiver India received from the cartel in 2008 as far as the import of enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technology (ENR) is concerned.