New Delhi, Oct 5 (UNI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday that the situation in the Middle East is a cause of great concern and deep worry due to the widening conflict.
Referring to the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel, he said: “What we saw as a terrorist attack, the response (by Israel), and what we saw in Gaza, and now we are seeing it in Lebanon, the exchange between Iran and Israel, the Houthis firing on the Red Sea.. This is actually costing us.”
“Shipping rates have gone up, (shipping) insurance rates have gone up, foreign trade is being affected, oil prices have gone up,” he added.
He said that the markets tanked after the Iranian missile attack on Israel two days ago. “Conflicts can be opportunistically used, I don’t deny that. But I think in a globalised world which is so tight, a conflict anywhere creates problems everywhere. Some supply of some kind will get affected by this.
“So I would say, that honestly today, whether it is the conflict in Ukraine, or the conflict in the Middle East, these are big factors of instability, big factors of concern. The world, including us, are worried about it, and we are trying to see where we can at least make a difference and do what we can,” he added.
To a question on reform of the United Nations, he said:
“We are not waiting for the failure of UN to reform the UN; the UN needs to be reformed because it is 80 years old. When the UN was formed there were 51 members and all 51 were not free. We were one of the 51 members.
“Today there are 193 members. So imagine something has changed from 51 to 193 – how can the management remain the same? It doesn’t make any sense. If you look at the major economic hierarchy, that has also changed.... Nobody will willingly yield their position, that’s the reality. But there is a negotiation going on, called the Intergovernmental Negotiation Process; within the UN.
“We just had a Summit of the Future, and within that there was a much greater sense, that look, we have to do something today about changing the UN. So, I think the pressures will grow, and at some stage it will grow to a point where it will be impossible for the people who are currently trying to stop it, from continually stopping it,” he said, referring to China, along with the Coffee Club -- Italy, Mexico, Egypt, Pakistan – that are against expansion of the UNSC permanent membership. China and Pakistan’s opposition is mainly due to India pitching for a permanent seat. India is part of the G4 countries of Germany, Japan and Brazil that are pushing for reform and expansion of the permanent UNSC seats.
UNI RN