UN’s Antonio Guterres to start India visit from Mumbai, meet PM Modi in Gujarat
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will join PM Narendra Modi at Ekta Nagar, Kevadiya, in Gujarat on October 20 at the launch of the Mission LiFE booklet, logo and tagline.
NEW DELHI: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit India during October 18-20 and join Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a launch event related to the Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment).
Guterres’ visit will commence with him paying tribute to victims of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India’s financial hub. The hotel will also be the venue for an informal meeting of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee on October 28.
He will join Modi at Ekta Nagar, Kevadiya, in Gujarat on October 20 at the launch of the Mission LiFE booklet, logo and tagline. The concept of LiFE was introduced by Modi during COP26 at Glasgow in November 2021.
At the time, Modi had urged the global community to “drive LiFE as an international mass movement towards mindful and deliberate utilisation, instead of mindless and destructive consumption, to protect and preserve the environment”, the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
Mission LiFE will be India’s signature initiative at the UN and other international platforms for showcasing climate action and early achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Its central idea reflects India’s ethos of respecting nature and the mission aims to pilot a focused programme that will mobilise one billion Indians to become pro-planet people, by adopting simple environment and climate-friendly behaviour and actions in their daily lives to promote a shared commitment to protect our planet, the ministry said.
In Kevadiya, Guterres is expected to pay floral tributes at the Statue of Unity. He will visit India’s first solar-powered village in Modhera and other development projects in the state. Guterres will also visit the Sun Temple in Modhera.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar will hold bilateral discussions with Guterres on issues of global concern, steps to deepen India’s engagement with the UN, including through India’s upcoming presidency of the G20, and reformed multilateralism, the external affairs ministry said.
Earlier, in Mumbai, Guterres will also deliver a public address at IIT-Mumbai on the theme “India @75: UN-India Partnership: Strengthening South-South Cooperation”.
This will be Guterres’ first trip to India since he began his second term as secretary-general in January 2022. He earlier visited the country in October 2018 during his first term.
