India has taken over the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of August, and PM Modi will preside over the UNSC meeting on August 9.
In a first for any Indian prime minister, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over the United Nations Security Council meeting when India is also the president of the UNSC.
Syed Akbaruddin, former India’s permanent representative in the United Nations, posted, “A first in the making…With India as President of @UN Security Council in August, an Indian Prime Minister may perhaps preside, albeit virtually, a Council meeting for 1st time on August 9 2021.”
“Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the first Indian Prime Minister, who has decided to preside over a meeting of the United Nations Security Council,” PTI quoted Akbaruddin.
He added, “It shows that leadership wants to lead from the front. It also shows that India and its political leadership are invested in our foreign policy ventures.”
Many high-level meetings will take place chaired by Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
Akbaruddin told PTI, “This is our eighth stint on the UNSC yet in the 75 years, this is the first time that our political leadership has invested in presiding over an event of the security council…Although this is a virtual meeting, it's still a first meeting of the sort for us. It is historic. The last time an Indian PM was engaged in this effort was the then PM PV Narasimha Rao in 1992 when he attended a UNSC meeting.”
