External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday met UN chief Antonio Guterres and discussed global hotspots and their wider implications, besides reform of the UN Security Council.
Mr Jaishankar, who is here to represent India at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and is holding various bilateral meetings, also met his Belarusian counterparts Maksim Ryzhenkov and Tajikistan counterparts Sirojiddin Muhriddin.
“Always a pleasure to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Appreciate his insights on the state of the world. Discussed global hotspots and their wider implications,” Jaishankar wrote on the social media platform X.
He further said that they talked about reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), preparations for the ‘Summit of the Future’ in September, and future prospects of a meaningful India-UN partnership.
Earlier, he held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Tajikistan, Belarus and Russia.
“Glad to meet Tajikistan Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin in Astana today. Took stock of our bilateral partnership and cooperation in multilateral forums. Appreciate the exchange of views on the regional situation,” Jaishankar posted on social media platform X along with pictures of the meeting.
“Glad to meet Belarus Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov today. Welcome Belarus as a new member of the SCO. Discussed our bilateral relations and its future development prospects,” the minister had earlier written on Twitter.
This meeting of the two Foreign Ministers took place a few days after the first India-Belarus Consular Dialogue held in Minsk on June 28.
“The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary (CPV) Dr Aman Puri, while the Belarusian delegation was led by Andrei Kozhan, Head of the Directorate General of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus,” a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday said.
With nine member states – India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – the SCO has emerged as an influential economic and security bloc and one of the largest inter-regional international organisations.
Belarus will be the 10th country to become its member.
Kazakhstan is hosting the summit as the current chair of the grouping.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
