United Nations Undersecretary General Shashi Tharoor and former Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi both see management of diversity as India’s singular civilisational achievement. Speaking at the session “India’s Future Role in Global Governance”, Tharoor said: “Our democracy, our thriving free media, our NGOs, our energetic human rights groups and the repeated spectacle of our remarkable general elections have all made India a rare example of successful management of diversity in the developing world".

For her part, Kawaguchi said India is not only a model of how diverse cultures can co-exist, but of how it can be used “to overcome the challenge of change”. She said Japan and India’s evolving strategic ties — based on a common practice of democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights — could be a factor for “prosperity and stability in Asia and the world”.

According to Tharoor, even though India has all the attributes of a great power — population, economy and military — its most striking asset is its soft power. He said not enough attention has been paid to this aspect in the context of global governance.

He said India needed to give "attention, encouragement and active support" to support its "softer" aspects like Bollywood, its fashion industry, cuisine, sporting talents and educational institutions. He said it was important for India to promote these material accomplishments along with its values and principles and “above all, our precious pluralism”.

Both speakers also said there was great need for UN reforms. According to Kawaguchi, among the more important aspects of this is the reform of the UN Security Council. She said India and Japan had failed to push for its expansion. However, Tharoor pointed out that resistance often came from countries that were “just below” the Group of Four — India, Japan, Brazil and Germany —who felt they would lose out if the G-4 members were accommodated in the expanded UNSC.

The Japanese speaker emphasised that the need for reform of the UNSC remained, considering the enormous power for the good the body held. “It has the power to write international rules,” she said.

In response to a question, after the presentations, Kawaguchi said that in Japan’s view, there were “some advantages” in the area of non-proliferation in the Indo-US nuclear deal, but there was need to see the type of agreement India arrived at with the International Atomic Energy Agency. She said India could do more in the area of non-proliferation, such as ending fissile material production and participating in the Proliferation Security Initiative.