PM to leave for New York to attend UNGA

New Delhi, Sept 20: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will leave for New York on Wednesday, Sept 21 to attend the United Nations General Assembly session on Saturday where India will push for reforms of the Security Council to reflect current realities and early adoption of a convention on terrorism that will provide a global framework to fight the menace.

Singh, who will be accompanied by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, would represent India at the high-level segment of the General Assembly on Saturday and deliver his address.

During the session, India, along with other members of the G-4 (Brazil, Japan and Germany), will work to push for reforms of the UNSC at the earliest for robust international security and peacekeeping operations.

The G4 members are keen on getting permanent membership of the UNSC. Currently, India and Germany are non-permanent members of the Security Council.

As the session takes places at a time of continuing global economic and financial uncertainties, India, as an emerging major economy, will reaffirm its commitment to working with the UN on furthering global economic and fiscal stability and balanced growth.

There is no meeting scheduled between Singh and US President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to leave New York before the Prime Minister's arrival.

However, Singh, who is attending the UNGA after a gap of two years, is likely to have meetings with others heads of state or government, officials said.

PTI