New York: India and the United Nations have renewed their partnership with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to broadcast news from the world body in Hindi and enhance public outreach in the language.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, and UN Under Secretary General, Department of Global Communications (DGC), Melissa Fleming, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to renew the 'Hindi@UN' Project.
This renewal will be in effect for five years, starting from April 1, 2025, and concluding on March 31, 2030.The signing ceremony took place at the Permanent Mission of India on Wednesday.
The Government of India has pledged USD 1.5 million per annum for five years, over and above the cumulative contribution of USD 6.8 million to date for the purpose.
Fleming underscored the significance of social media in the present day and focused DGC’s efforts on disseminating messages in Hindi by maximising the use of social media through the Hindi@UN project, particularly among Hindi speakers.
Speaking on the occasion, Harish mentioned that the renewal of the MoU is a testimony to the Government of India’s commitment to give greater prominence to Hindi, including in the United Nations as one of its non-official languages, a press release issued by the Mission said.
Further, the renewal is a testimony to India’s strong and historic commitment to multilingualism, it added.
The event was attended by senior UN officials and members of the diplomatic corps.
The project was initially established in 2018 through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Indian government and the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC), focusing on broadcasting UN news in Hindi and spreading greater awareness about global issues among millions of Hindi-speaking people around the world.
(with inputs from PTI)