As India prepares to take up the presidency of the Security Council for a month long August, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla met with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other international diplomats to explain New Delhi's priorities while leading the UN's top decision-making body and underscore that it establishes the right to be a permanent member of the 15-nation body.

"We will make the best of our two-year term in the Security Council. We will leave our mark in the Council and our point is to say that India really, by its contribution, establishes the right to be a permanent member of UN Security Council," he said at an event earlier in New York.

Shringla briefed Guterres during their meeting on Thursday about India's focus areas during its presidency next month – maritime security, peacekeeping and counter-terrorism – according to India's UN Mission.

They also exchanged views on the regional situations, including Afghanistan and Myanmar, on climate change and the International Solar Alliance that India is promoting, on Security Council reforms and on the COVID-19 situation around the world, the mission said.

Guterres “expressed solidarity with the government and people of India in their efforts against the recent wave of COVID-19 pandemic” and appreciated the positive role India is playing in the UN Security Council as well as India’s robust contribution to UN peacekeeping,” the mission said.

During a day packed with diplomatic interactions, he also participated in a Security Council session on Libya.

He said that while there was “cautious optimism” about the future of the country wracked by internal strife, there was still concern over the fragile security situation and stressed that terrorist groups and their affiliates should not be allowed to operate there.

United States Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who is a member of President Joe Biden's cabinet, was among the diplomats Shringla met. US Mission Spokesperson Olivia Dalton said that they discussed enhancing multilateral cooperation between their countries that are deepening their strategic partnership.

India will take over from France as the Council president next month and Shringla briefed France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian about New Delhi's plans and invited him to attend the high-level meetings that India would chair, India's Mission said.

Shringla also met several senior UN officials to “discuss the entire gamut of India’s engagement with the UN system and its agencies,” according to the mission.

The officials he met were Guterres's Chef de Cabinet Maria Viotti, and Under-Secretaries-General Rosemary DiCarlo who is in charge of political and peacebuilding affairs; Achim Steiner who heads the UN Development Programme; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the executive director of UN Women, and Courtenay Rattray, who is the High Representative for least developed and small island developing countries.

Speaking at a welcome event organized for him in the city by Jaipur Foot USA and Gracious Givers Foundation USA, Shringla said India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti had arranged new and very significant initiatives in the areas of maritime security, counter-terrorism, and UN peacekeeping during India's upcoming presidency.

These are all subjects that are important to us and very unique initiatives are being organized during India's presidency of the Council, he said, and the presidency will have "very high-level participation" from the country.

"We are there to forge consensus, understanding. We are the bridge between countries in maintaining international peace and security. That is no small achievement if you consider the fact that we are not permanent members of the Council," Shringla was quoted as saying by PTI news agency. (SAM)