• Source:JND
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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tore into the United Nations (UN) on Sunday, equating it with an "old company" that was struggling to keep pace with the evolving world. Speaking at the Kautilya Economic Conclave, Jaishankar expressed disappointment over the UN’s role amid the ongoing conflict-- Russia-Ukraine war and Middle East conflict. "Where is the UN in all of this? It's essentially a bystander," he remarked.

"The United Nations is like an old company, not entirely keeping up with the market, but occupying the space...What you have today is, yes, there is a UN. At the end of the day, however suboptimal it is in functioning, it is still the only multilateral game in town but when it doesn't step up on key issues, countries figure out their own ways of doing it,” Jaishankar said.

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EAM also rebuked the role of the UN during the Covid pandemic, asserting that the international organisation did not do much and countries independently took up the task of holding a vaccination drive.

“Let's take the last 5-10 years, probably the biggest thing which happened in our lives was Covid. Think about what the UN do on Covid. I think the answer is not very much. Even during Covid, countries either did their own thing or you had an initiative like COVAX, which a group of countries did,” he added.

When asked about the potential impact of the upcoming US elections, Jaishankar highlighted a significant shift in America's geopolitical stance and economic policies. He noted that regardless of the results in November, many of these developments are likely to gain momentum in the coming years.

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On the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting, Jaishankar reiterated India will not be holding bilateral talks with Pakistan.