Russia, China support India's aspiration for greater role in UN

New Delhi [India], Dec 11 (ANI): The foreign ministers of China and Russia reiterated the importance they attach to the status of India in international affairs and support its aspiration to play a greater role in the United Nations, at the 15th Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meet here, on Monday.

"We stress the importance of coordination on the issues related to the UN reform. It has to be conducted through an active dialogue and consultation with the Member States. Implementation of new initiatives must clearly follow the mandates given by the General Assembly. In any outcome, Member States must maintain realistic mechanisms for monitoring the use of UN financial and human resources. In this context, prerogatives of the UN main organs, including in particular the UNGA, as stipulated by the UN Charter, must be respected," RIC said, in a joint press statement.

"We reiterate the importance we attach to cooperation and strategic partnership within BRICS. We will work together to implement all outcomes of BRICS summits to strengthen cooperation in economic, political, security and people-to-people fields, so as to usher in the second golden decade of BRICS cooperation. Russia and India commend China for successful hosting of the Ninth BRICS Summit in Xiamen in September 2017," it added.

Russia and China reiterated they welcome India's participation in APEC.

The trilateral meet recalled the 2005 World Summit Outcome document and reaffirmed the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, with a view to making it more representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of the developing countries so that it can adequately respond to global challenges.

The statement further said: "We attach special importance to our joint work within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). We regard SCO as an important instrument in promoting multilateral political, security economic and people-to-people interaction in the region. Foreign Ministers of Russia and China welcome the accession of India as a full-fledged member of SCO at the Astana SCO Summit in June 2017. Russia and India extend support and cooperation for China as the Chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) for 2017-2018 and for China's hosting of 2018 SCO Summit."

RIC also emphasised the need for coordination and cooperation in various regional forums and organizations such as East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus), Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), so as to contribute to maintaining regional peace and stability and to promote regional development and prosperity.

The foreign minister of the People's Republic of China and the foreign minister of the Russian Federation thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for hosting and making excellent arrangements for the meeting in New Delhi.

The ministers decided to hold the next trilateral meeting in China. The time and venue of the meeting will be agreed through diplomatic channels.

Apart from this, the foreign ministers of the three countries - Sushma Swaraj, Sergey Lavrov and Wang Yi - discussed terrorism and disarmament, the political scenario in the Middle East and North Africa, different challenges in putting world economy back on growth track, transnational organised crime, illicit drug trafficking, food security and climate change. (ANI)