External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 23 September. Swaraj spoke about India’s concern of Pakistan’s connection with terror activities, climate change, poverty, and more. Earlier in her trip, Swaraj held a trilateral meeting with US and Japan, and met foreign ministers of Denmark, Latvia, Bhutan and Tunisia. She also met US President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, as well as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Swaraj is scheduled to head back home on Sunday, a day after her address.
- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived in New York on Monday for the 72nd UN General Assembly session
- She held a trilateral meeting with US and Japan on day one
- She held a meeting with Ivanka Trump on day two to discuss her visit to India and women’s empowerment
- On the second day, she said India supported the Palestinian cause
- She met her counterparts from six nations on day three
- Swaraj spoke about terror funding, Pakistan and North Korea on day four
- She raised the issues of terrorism and H1-B visas in a meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
- She addressed the UNGA on her last day, and brought up the issue of Pak-funded terrorism
'If We Cannot Agree to Define Our Enemy, How Can We Fight Together?'
Describing terrorism as an "existentialist danger" to mankind, India wondered how the international community will fight the menace if the UN Security Council cannot agree on the listing of terrorists.
If we cannot agree to define our enemy, how can we fight together? If we continue to differentiate between good terrorists and bad terrorists, how can we fight together? If even the United Nations Security Council cannot agree on the listing of terrorists, how can we fight together?Sushma Swaraj at UNGA
Swaraj was apparently referring to China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, which has repeatedly blocked India's move to put a ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council. The JeM has already been in the banned list.
We must all introspect and ask ourselves whether our talk is anywhere close to the action we take. We all condemn this evil, and piously resolve to fight it in all our declaratory statements. The truth is that these have become rituals. The fact is that when we are required to fight and destroy this enemy, the self-interest of some leads them towards duplicity
On Demonetisation, GST, Beti Bachao, Jan Dhan
Swaraj said demonetisation was a "courageous" decision taken by Prime Minister Modi to challenge the black money – one of the by-products of corruption.
She also said India has passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) legislation, through which there is one-tax across the country, without the untidy and punishing system of multiple taxes under differing categories in different parts of India.
Our ‘Save the girl, Educate the girl’ campaign is reducing gender inequality. The Clean India programme is generating what can only be described as a revolutionary change in social attitudes and habits.Sushma Swaraj at UNGA
She said that all of the economic programmes – Jan Dhan, Mudra, Ujjwala, Skill India, Digital India, Clean India, Start-Up India and Stand-Up India – have a principal purpose, the empowerment of the poor.
"The Jan Dhan plan must surely count as the world's largest financial inclusion scheme," she said, adding that at least 300 million Indians who had never crossed the doors of a bank today have bank accounts: this is equivalent to the population of the United States of America
PM Modi Pats Sushma on the Back
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to congratulate MEA Sushma Swaraj after her speech.