“India a huge voice in pushing for change Summit hopes to deliver,” says UN Summit of Future director Michele Griffin

On September 23, PM Narendra Modi will attend the Summit of the Future at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The Summit of the Furture is an important milestone in the history of UN as it enters the 80th year of its establishment in 2025. A Pact for the Future , with its two annexes Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations, will be the outcome document of the Summit. PM Narendra Modi will also address the Summit of the Future.

Summit of the Future, director Michele Griffin says India is a major voice for pushing for the change that the Summit envisages.

“We are very excited that he (PM Modi) is coming. India is a major voice on the world stage and major voice of the global south. One huge purpose of this Summit is actually to really to make sure that international cooperation represents and serves the people of the global south much more effectively than it has been doing so far. So, whether that’s on Security Council reform and looking at how the Security Council functions or how the international financial architecture functions. India has been a huge voice in pushing for the kinds of change that this Summit holds to deliver. We are very excited that the PM is coming & will be that voice” she said.

The Summit brings world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how to deliver a better present and safeguard the future. Summit director Michele Griffin stated that India’s voice is important as it has always been a key player in peace operations across the globe.

“There are more ongoing conflicts – Sudan, Haiti and many other places, where people are really suffering. That is a huge subtext to this Summit and to the high-level week in general that a lot of people around the world are suffering, especially from conflict but not only from conflict. There will be big efforts underway to try to make sure that we discuss those conflicts and see how we can try to address them more effectively than we have been. The Summit doesn’t exactly focus on any specific conflict because what the focus of the Summit is to try to look at how we work together at the global level,” Griffin said.

“The fact that we are not doing very good job at preventing conflicts or solving them or dealing with their consequences is a huge reason for having this Summit because we are looking at the Security Council, we are looking at peace operations in which India has always been a major player. We are looking at all of the toolbox and the ways that we work together -are they fit for the way in which the conflict has changed, the ways in which conflict is going to continue to change in the future…how do we begin to adapt our way of working together at the global level, so that we do live up to the charter duties to prevent, resolve and manage conflict much more effectively,” Michele Griffin told ANI

The Summit of the Future will consider how Nations cooperate both to achieve agreed goals and to tackle emerging threats and opportunities. It is an opportunity for initiatives and commitments from a wide array of stakeholders.

“The purpose of this Summit is really to restore the trust and the functioning of the international cooperation. So, we are looking at how we work together at the global level to deliver on all the promises that we have already made, all the goals that we have already set for ourselves but we are also looking at all of the challenges and risks and opportunities that are coming in the future and trying to make sure that the United Nations and other major organisations of international cooperation are ready for those challenges. We are also ready to harness all those opportunities for the sake of all of humanity and not just a few,” says Summit of the Future, director Michele Griffin.

The Summit in New York will produce an inter-governmentally negotiated, action-oriented Pact for the Future with chapters on sustainable development and financing for development; international peace and security; science, technology and innovation and digital cooperation; youth and future generations; and transforming global governance. It will also produce a global digital compact and a declaration on future generations.