Macron said that there are countries that have chosen a form of neutrality via-a-vis this war. Those who say that they’re non-aligned are wrong and making a historic error.
President of France Emmanuel Macron, addressing the General Debate of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday, said that PM Modi was right when he told Russian President Putin that this is not the time for war.
PM Modi told this to Putin when he met him last week on the sidelines of the 22nd meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand of Uzbekistan. Modi also had spoken to Putin several times regarding this issue over the phone and emphasized the importance of democracy, diplomacy, and dialogue.
The French President said,
Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, was right he said that this is not the time for war. It is not for revenge against the West or opposing the West against the East. It is the collective time for our sovereign equal states to cope together with the challenges we face.
He also added that due to this, there is an urgent need to develop a new and effective contract between the north and the south that is respectful of food, biodiversity, and education. There’s no longer time for block thinking but to build a coalition of specific actions to reconcile legitimate interests and common goods.
Putin had told Modi that he knows his position on the conflict in Ukraine and the concerns that Modi constantly expresses.
At the UNGA session Macron expressed hope that the international community can commit to the reform of the UN Security Council so that it is more representative, welcomes new permanent members, and remains able to play its full role by restricting the use of the veto in cases of mass crimes.
In his address on the opening day of the General Debate, the French president said that there are countries that have chosen a form of neutrality via-a-vis this war. Those who say that they’re non-aligned are wrong. They are making a historic error.
Also read: India vows full support to UNGA, commitment to multilateralism: S Jaishankar
