Reforms to UNSC vital for equitable world: PM

Jaipur, Aug 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that reforms to UN Security Council were vital for a more equitable world and the draft presented by the president of the UN General Assembly should be adopted as the negotiating text.

He said the negotiations should be completed before the next session of the general assembly.

In his closing remarks at Summit of Forum for India Pacific Island Countries here, Modi said India would establish at least one information technology laboratory in each of the Pacific Ocean island countries and would like to shape its bilateral cooperation according to their needs.

"As I mentioned in my opening remarks, reforms of the UN Security Council is in global interest and vital for a more inclusive and equitable world.

"We should quickly adopt the draft presented by the president of the general assembly as the negotiating text and conclude negotiations during the 70th session of the general assembly," the prime minister said.

He said India would remain very sensitive to concerns of Pacific island countries in international forums. "We would also like to shape our bilateral cooperation in accordance with your needs and priorities."

Modi said combating climate change was India's national priority but national action will succeed only through a strong international partnership.

He said India was keen to establish an institute for sustainable coastal and ocean research in the region and a network of marine biology research stations in various island nations.

"We could begin immediately with research collaboration and capacity building with institutions in India. We also propose to hold an international conference on 'Ocean economy and Pacific Island Countries' in New Delhi in 2016," he said.

Modi said India would be pleased to create capacity in the island states to deal with natural disasters, including through human resource development and application of space technology for early warning system and incident response.

"I am pleased to announce that we will establish at least one information technology laboratory in each pacific island country. This will not only improve local IT infrastructure, it will enable us to fulfil our commitment to provide tele-medicine and tele-education to the people," he said.