G20, SDGs and finance in focus during EAM, Guterres meeting

External minister S Jaishankar met UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly high-level week in New York on Monday, where the two discussed India's G20 presidency, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda, and the reform of the international financial architecture.

- Prashant Jha

The minister will speak at the UNGA on Tuesday, but has been engaged in close bilateral consultations with partners and friends over the past four days since arriving in New York.

After meeting the UNSG, who was in Delhi for the G20 summit and had also visited last year to attend the launch of PM Narendra Modi's Mission LIFE initiative, Jaishankar tweeted, "Discussed how India's G20 Presidency has contributed to strengthening @UN's sustainable development agenda. We have coordinated closely in this regard over the last year. Appreciate UNSG's strong commitment to reforming International Financial Institutions."

The lack of progress in achieving SDGs, and the need for greater resources and financing felt by most of the developing world to achieve these targets, was both a prominent theme of India's G20 presidency and has been a key talking point over the past week at the UN.

The Indian presidency also took forward the issue of the reform of multilateral development banks (MDBs) during its G20 presidency; Guterres too has been a supporter of the expansion of the mandate of the World Bank to include battling climate and transboundary challenges while retaining the focus on battling poverty and has underscored the need to form greater financial resources for MDBs to be more effective.