India at UNGA: First Secy Sneha Dubey bats for 'national ownership' and cooperation

India on Thursday, 15 October, underscored the importance of development activities that revolve around national ownership and leadership. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), India's first secretary at the United Nations Sneha Dubey underlined the need of giving due consideration to national development priorities. The highlights of Dubey's statement on 'Operational Activities for Development & South-South Cooperation' was shared by the official Twitter handle of India at UN, New York.

"Important that UN development activities revolve around national ownership and leadership, and give due consideration to national development priorities," Sneha Dubey said at the UNGA.

Speaking at the UNGA Second Committee meeting on 'Operational Activities for Development & South-South Cooperation', Dubey asserted that the UN system needs to focus on works that are qualified to deliver. She added that these works should be supported with a sufficient amount of flexible resources and called for ensuring the resources that are needed for development programmes are not re-proposed.

"The UN System must focus on those tasks it is uniquely qualified to deliver. And these should be supported with adequate and predictable volume of flexible resources," Sneha Dubey said at the UNGA. 

India's commitment to Global South

India's first secretary to the UN, Sneha Dubey noted that the COVID-19 pandemic put multilateral institutions to the test and highlighted the need for South-South Cooperation. She highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for "One Earth One Health". While speaking at the UNGA Second Committee, Dubey asserted that the approach underlines India's commitment to the Global South. 

Furthermore, Dubey expressed that credit and soft loans should not cause an undue burden on the receivers. Speaking about India's efforts within the realm of SSC, she informed that India gives annual training slots to more than 160 countries under the country's flagship ITEC programme. She also revealed India's offerings of credit of more than $30 billion and assisting numerous developing countries.

The Indian first secretary to the UN underscored that India-UN Development Partnership Fund supports South-owned and South-led sustainable development projects, focussing on LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS. She expressed her views on the India-Brazil-South Africa Fund that highlights the relevance of South-South Cooperation and said, "India has taken the lead in establishing International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure."

"Lines of Credit and soft loans should not result in placing an undue burden on the recepients; and any such assistance should not result in unsustainable indebtness," Sneha Dubey said in a statement.

(Image: @IndiaUNNewYork/Twitter)