G20 summit: UN secretary-general Guterres arrives in India

New Delhi: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in New Delhi on Friday to participate in the G20 Summit.

The 18th G20 summit is to be hosted at the state-of-the-art Bharat Mandapam on September 9-10. The UN chief received a rousing welcome, with a group of dancers performing a folk dance. The G20 Leader's Declaration will be adopted at the conclusion of the big-ticket summit in the national capital.  

As a founding member of the United Nations, India strongly supports the purposes and principles of the UN and has made significant contributions to implementing the goals of the Charter and the evolution of the UN’s specialized programmes and agencies, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement earlier.

India strongly believes the United Nations and the norms of international relations that it has fostered remain the most efficacious means for tackling today's global challenges, it added.

In August, at the BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also emphasised undertaking reforms in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The BRICS joint statement also called for United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reforms and affirmed support for the aspirations of emerging and developing countries like India, Brazil and South Africa.

At the ASEAN Summit in Indonesia, the UN chief further spoke on India's G20 Presidency and said that he is confident that India will do everything possible to make sure that the geopolitical divide that exists is overcome and that the G20 can conclude with possible results.

"I am confident that India will do everything possible to make sure that the geopolitical divide that exists, is overcome and that the G20 can conclude with possible results...I will be very interested in seeing the emerging economies and developed countries that are gathering in the G20 to be able to come to a united approach, to an increased ambition," Guterres said.

"Ambition in mitigation to reduce emissions as we are facing a catastrophic climate situation and ambition in justice to provide developing countries with the resources they need for climate action in adaptation and in mitigation," he added. (ANI)