New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) Chile’s Ambassador to India, Juan Angulo, on Monday stressed the importance of India in the international arena, and termed it key that nations like India act as intermediation in many sectors in the international agenda.
In an interview with IANS, Angulo praised India’s leadership of G20, terming it “very substantial and important.” He also mentioned that Chile has participated in the Global South initiatives that took place years ago.
Asked his opinion on how Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shaped global opinion on important issues, the envoy said: “We think that it’s important that countries like India have a voice in the international arena. India is a growing country, it’s a country from the south, and more and more, the relative weight of India is important in the international arena. You can see with the visits of international leaders coming to India, the leadership of India in the G20 was very, very substantial, very important, and we have participated very much in the Global South initiatives that took place a couple of years ago. These Global South meetings that India organised, we participated in at the highest levels, in our case. So, we think it is important that countries like India act as intermediation in many areas in the international agenda.”
Expressing Chile’s support for India’s bid for permanent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) membership, he termed multilateralism “very important” and said that it is the way to solve and tackle many of the problems that exist in the present time.
“India has the aspiration of being a permanent member of the Security Council, and Chile has expressed their willingness to support India in this aspiration. We think that multilateralism is very important and being a medium, low, small-sized country, we believe that multilateralism should be the way to solve and tackle many of the problems in our time. But, of course, multilateralism should also be reviewed in terms of accountability, effectiveness, and the world should better reflect the reality of our times than the reality of 70 or 80 years ago. And of course, we will be promoting a more reformed United Nations system in order to better solve and tackle problems of our times.”
Asked whether the UN has become irrelevant in today’s time, as there is no intervention of the UN in Ukraine, Iran or Venezuela, he responded: “I don’t think the UN is irrelevant. They have a lot of work to do. It is important that international organisations can preserve peace and prosperity all over the world.”
Ambassador Angulo noted that leaders of the European Union will visit India for Republic Day celebrations and stated that the two sides are on the path to fostering trade agreements.
On German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit to India, he said: “Germany is a very important country within the European Union, but also a global player. I’m happy to see that India is boosting relationships. With India, I see that also at the end of the month, leaders of the European Union will come for the Republic Day. News is that maybe the free trade agreement between India and the European Union will be signed or finalised. We are on the same path in fostering trade agreements and visits, so it is very good.”
Earlier in the day, PM Modi and German Chancellor Merz held delegation-level talks at the Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre in Gandhinagar, focusing on enhancing cooperation across various sectors. The two leaders also participated in the International Kite Festival at the Sabarmati Riverfront, witnessing the colour, energy and cultural vibrancy of the annual event.
Chancellor Merz arrived in India early on Monday on a visit aimed at further strengthening bilateral relations.
–IANS
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