United Nations: Strongly pitching for the much needed reforms in the United Nations Security Council, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked the international community for changes in the 15-member powerful body by next year; when the UN celebrates its 70th anniversary.
"We must reform the United Nations, including the Security Council, and make it more democratic and participative," Modi said in his maiden address to the annual session of the UN General Assembly.
"Institutions that reflect the imperatives of 20th century won't be effective in the 21st. It would face the risk of irrelevance; and we will face the risk of continuing turbulence with no one capable of addressing it," he said.
As the United Nations observes its 70th anniversary next year, of which India was a founding member, it is appropriate that the much needed reforms of the UN Security Council is carried out by 2015, Modi said.
Asserting that no one country or group of countries can determine the course of this world, Modi said there has to be a genuine international partnership.
This is not just a moral position, but a practical reality, he added.
"We need a genuine dialogue and engagement between countries. I say this from the conviction of the philosophical tradition that I come from. Our efforts must begin here - in the United Nations," he said.
In particular the UN Security Council, he added. Modi urged the international community to put aside their differences and mount a concerted international effort to combat terrorism and extremism.
"As a symbol of this effort, I urge you to adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism," he said.
"We should ensure that there will be peace, stability and order in the outer space and cyber space We should work together to ensure that all countries observe international rules and norms," he added.
In his address, Modi said globalisation has created new poles of growth; new industries; and new source of employment. At the same time, billions live on the edge of poverty and want; countries that are barely able to survive a global economic storm, he added.
There has never been a time when it has seemed more possible than now to change this. Technology has made things possible; the cost of providing it has reduced. We no longer are totally dependent on bricks and mortars, he said.
"If you think of the speed with which Facebook or Twitter has spread around the world, if you think of the speed with which cell phones have spread, then you must also believe that development and empowerment can spread with the same speed," he said.
Each country must of course take its own national measures; each government must fulfill its responsibility to support growth and development, he noted.
"At the same time, we also require a genuine international partnership, he said.
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