ASEM Summit: VP Naidu urges for UN Security Council reforms amid stifled economic progress

Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday, November 25, stressed the need for reforms in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and other key global organizations to make them reflective and competent enough to deal with the present-day challenges.

Naidu was speaking at the virtual Plenary session of the 13th ASEM or Asia-Europe Meeting, a platform for Asian and European countries to exchange views on regional and international issues while encouraging collaboration in a series of other areas.

Naidu, who led the Indian delegation in the ASEM Summit, said that the world is witnessing and grappling with rapid economic, technological, and security challenges, and that the current multilateral system has fallen short in providing an effective response to these challenges.

Vice President Naidu said that India is pursuing reformed multilateralism as a key driving principle for a purposeful reform of existing global institutional structures.

Vice President Naidu addresses peace, security concerns at ASEM summit

The two-day biennial event is being hosted by Cambodia and is themed: "Strengthening Multilateralism for Shared Growth". The event marks the presence of 51 member countries, the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU).

"The lack of development and stifled economic progress create fertile ground for violence and instability," Naidu said, adding that without peace, development suffers.

He called for efforts towards promoting economic activity and enhancing the security of livelihood of the people and noted that such attempts will go a long way in the recovery of nations that have been adversely affected by the COVID pandemic.

The Vice President spotlighted the need for reforms in the UN Security Council and other pivotal international security agencies responsible for maintaining global peace and security.

India calls for reforms in global peacemaking structure

"The multitude of challenges of today's dynamic and interdependent world cannot be addressed with outdated systems designed to deal with the challenges of the past," Naidu said. 

Pressing the urgent need to re-imagine international cooperation, Vice President Naidu said, "It is the lack of a coordinated global response that has exposed the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of the multilateral system as it stands today."

"The pandemic has exposed the fault lines from unreliable global supply chains to inequitable vaccine distribution, and this underlines the need for global solidarity and strengthened multilateralism," he said. 

Vice President Naidu noted that the re-imagined post-pandemic world will make profoundly different demands from the multilateral system.

The Vice President emphasised the need for international cooperation in four major fields - resilient and reliable supply chains, health security, digital for development, and green and sustainable recovery.

Inputs: ANI

Image: @VICE PRESIDENT OF INDIA/TWITTER/AP/PTI