Vienna: India presided over the unanimous adoption of three important mandate extensions of UN Security Council resolutions.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla presided over the deliberations on the Middle East peace process. The Palestinian issue was given particular focus. Adoption of three other important mandate extensions of the UN Security Council on Mali sanctions, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and UNSOM (Somalia) were also discussed in the meeting.
Shringla said that India's Presidency of the Security Council is reaching a successful closure with today's meetings. "Each of our initiatives was designed to produce, to the extent possible, consensus-based substantive and forward-looking Council outcomes," he added.
The top UN Body, during a month-long Presidency, successfully steered the discussions on various peace and security issues including those pertaining to Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria, and Yemen.
The resolution on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) extended the mandate of the peacekeeping mission for another year. India has been one of the largest troop-contributing countries to UNIFIL for the past 21 years. 862 Indian peacekeepers are currently serving in UNIFIL.
The travel ban and asset freeze imposed through resolution 2374 (2017) against individuals and entities obstructing the implementation of the 2015 Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali was renewed until August 31, 2022, by the 15-member Council.
The resolution strongly condemns the activities in Mali and the Sahel region of ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida-linked terrorist organisations including ISIS in West Africa Province, Greater Sahara, and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.
India has currently extended soft loans of USD 353.6 million for various development projects in Mali. A significant number of training slots are also provided under the Technical and Economic Cooperation training programme. Mali is also one of the beneficiaries enjoying zero duty on nearly 95% of exports.
The resolution on UNSOM extended assistance mission to Somalia till May 31, 2022. It has been playing an important role in supporting the Federal Government of Somalia's peace and reconciliation. A peaceful, free, and fair democratic election is extremely important for the future of Somalia.
India has been supporting Somalia for years through the provision of medical facilities, capacity-building programs, and scholarships.