Guterres praised India’s G20 leadership
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Delhi. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised India’s G20 leadership for building consensus and raising the voice of the Global South at the leaders’ summit in New Delhi last week. “India’s leadership did its best to represent the voices of the South and did its best to keep the development agenda at the center of the G20 discussions,” he said. “Again, of course, the findings are the same. Which they are. It depends on what countries are willing to accept. But I think that effort needs to be underpinned.” “Effective leadership is compromise,” Guterres said in remarks at a news conference ahead of the high-level General Assembly session. He talked about the emerging multipolar world and “Multipolarity can be a balancing factor”, he said, adding that “it can also lead to increased tensions, fragmentation and worse.” Therefore, he said, “It is time for compromise for a better tomorrow. Politics is compromise “Today’s multilateral institutions, which were created after World War II, reflect the power and economic dynamism of the times, and, therefore, they need to be reformed.” Guterres said, “Our multipolar world To bring countries together, we need strong, reformed multilateral institutions based on the UN Charter and international law. I know reform is fundamentally about power and there are clearly many competing interests in our increasingly multipolar world. And there are agendas.” “But at a time when our challenges are more interconnected than ever, the result of a zero-sum game is that everyone gets zero.” Secretary-General calls Palestinians on Mahatma Gandhi and freedom struggle Also gave an example of his philosophy of non-violent action. Asked by a Palestinian journalist why Palestinians are labeled terrorists “when they resist the occupiers”, including by UN officials, Guterres said: “I came from India and I went to pay tribute to Gandhi Was. Let’s not forget Gandhi’s example. I don’t think the Palestinians will be able to better protect their interests through violence. That’s my humble opinion.” A Pakistani journalist referred to the G20 Delhi Declaration condemning religious hatred and intolerance and asked Guterres whether he had raised the issues of attacks on religious minorities with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said there was no bilateral meeting with Modi during the G20 summit. “But, our position is very clear. Religious intolerance is a violation of human rights, which is completely unacceptable.”