India on Saturday gave an assertion of chartering an independent foreign policy course during the 20-minute address of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Watched by members of his family and the Indian official delegation in full strength, the Prime Minister spoke about a “deficit in global governance” and the “negative dimensions” of globalisation and global inter-dependence, which the world, he said, a few years ago had taken for granted. He thus took his theory of inequitable distribution of the benefits of globalisation forward — which he had introduced in his 2008 address to the General Assembly.
Speaking just a day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who announced the dispatch of his application for membership to the United Nations, Singh treated the statehood issue as an achievable future target and said, “We look forward to welcoming Palestine as an equal member of the United Nations.”
