UN’s Antonio Guterres Visit India: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be on an India tour from October 18 to 20. During this time, he will join Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a launch event related to the Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment).
During his two-day visit, Guterres will also meet Indian External Affairs minister S Jaishankar.
Antonio Guterres to visit India’s first solar-powered village
UN’s Antonio Guterres Visit India: His India tour will start from Mumbai where he will pay tribute to victims of the 2008 terror attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. At the hotel, Antonio Guterres will also attend an informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee on October 28.
During his Gujarat visit on October 20, Guterres will witness a model project site, recently proclaimed as India’s first solar-powered village in Modhera. He will also visit the Sun temple there.
“At the site, the Secretary-General will witness how solar rooftops installed on more than 1300 rural houses are improving lives and community,” Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said at the daily press briefing.
LiFe to drive global community towards nature preservation
For the launch event of Mission LiFE, the UN Chief will be in Ekta Nagar, Kevadiya to join PM Narendra Modi, who conceptualized the concept at the COP26 in Glasgow in November last year. The event will witness the launching of Mission LiFe booklet, logo and its tagline. Guterres is scheduled to present flower tributes at the Statue of Unity in Kevadiya.
At the COP26, Indian PM Modi asked the global community to “drive LiFE as an international mass movement towards mindful and deliberate utilization, instead of mindless and destructive consumption, to protect and preserve the environment”, the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
LiFE’s central idea reflects India’s character of respect and reverence to nature and the mission is targeted to initiate a program that will focus on mobilizing millions of Indian people to become nature-conserving people. The idea is to adopt simple environments and actions that are pro-climate and to fight climate change in daily lives to uphold a collective commitment to conserve and protect our Earth, said the ministry.
India’s trademark programme at the UN and other international forums, Mission LiFE, will highlight climate action and the early accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
According to the external affairs ministry, Guterres and S. Jaishankar will have private discussions about problems of global concern, initiatives to strengthen India’s participation with the UN, notably through India’s future G20 presidency, and reformed multilateralism.
Guterres’ visit to India will be his first since he started his second term as the Secretary-General of the UN in January this year. His last visit was during his first term in 2018.
