India, the UAE and France Trilateral Meet: India, the UAE and France recently held their first trilateral Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) session.

Key Points:

• This was the first ministerial-level meeting of India, France, and the UAE trilateral.
• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is representing India in the high-level 77th session.
• The Minister had an active exchange of ideas with his UAE and French counterparts.
• The trio of Ministers are strategic partners and UNSC members who collectively iterated the widening of bilateral relations between the three nations.
• The high-level 77th session started with the opening of the General Debate
• The leaders during the meeting discussed a new and more contemporary way of doing diplomacy with a focus on active exchange of ideas between strategic partners and UNSC members.

India-CELAC Quartet:

EAM Dr S Jaishankar also took part in the India-CELAC (Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States) Quartet Meeting in New York under the pro-tempore presidency of Argentina.

The CELAC Quartet was represented by Foreign Ministers’ of –

• Argentina Santiago Cafiero;
• Guatemala Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores;
• Trinidad and Tobago Dr Amery Browne; and
• Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs of Colombia Laura Gil Savastano.

The meeting took stock of developments towards a post-COVID pandemic economic recovery wherein all participating members agreed to work closely in sectors including –

• Trade and Commerce,
• Agriculture,
• Food and Energy Security,
• Health,
• Vaccine production,
• Traditional Medicines and
• logistics.

In-person meetings with Leaders of various Nation:

In a power-packed series of meetings, EAM Jaishankar interacted with various dignitaries of different nations alongside the UNGA meet to strengthen India’s relations with the international communities.

Background:

• In July 2022, a trilateral meeting of the Focal Points of India, France and the United Arab Emirates was held.
• The three sides exchanged perspectives on the Indo-Pacific region and explored the potential areas of trilateral cooperation which are as follows: -

1. Maritime Security,
2. Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR),
3. Blue Economy,
4. Regional Connectivity,
5. Cooperation in Multilateral Fora,
6. Energy and Food Security,
7. Innovation and Startups,
8. Supply Chain Resilience,
9. Cultural and People-to-People Cooperation.

• The three countries also discussed the next steps to be taken for furthering trilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
• The current meeting, on the sidelines of UNGA, is a follow up of July 2022 meeting.

About United Nations General Assembly (UNGA):

• UNGA was established in 1945 under the Charter of the United Nations and is headquartered in New York City.
• It is one of the six principal organs of the UN and serves as the main policy-making organ of the Organization.
• It provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations.
• Each of the 193 Member States of the United Nations has an equal vote.
• The UNGA also makes key decisions for the UN, including:

1. Appointing the Secretary-General on the recommendation of the Security Council
2. Electing the non-permanent members of the Security Council
3. Approving the UN budget

Some of the important achievements of UNGA are-

• Millennium Declaration, adopted in 2000
• The 2005 World Summit Outcome Document
• 17 Sustainable Development Goals formulated in September 2015

General debate:

• The Assembly’s annual general debate provides Member States the opportunity to express their views on major international issues.
• On this occasion, the Secretary-General presents on the opening day of the debate his report on the work of the Organization.