India has provided nearly USD 4 billion in food and financial assistance to Sri Lanka in 2022

India has highlighted its role in providing financial and food assistance to countries in need since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, in order to mitigate the adverse effects of the disruptions in the food and commodity supply chains.

"Over the past three months alone, India has exported more than 1.8 million tons of wheat to countries like Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Yemen. In our immediate neighborhood, we are continuing to help our neighbour Sri Lanka to ensure their food security by providing nearly USD 4 billion in food and financial assistance over the past few months," India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ruchira Kamboj said on Friday.

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, India has stood in solidarity with the Global South by further strengthening existing developmental partnerships, she pointed out.

Participating in the Annual Joint Debate of the General Assembly on the Reports of Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Fund, Kamboj also took the opportunity to touch upon the India-UN Development Partnership Fund which was established in 2017.

"In a short span of 5 years, the Fund has developed a portfolio of 66 development projects in partnership with 51 developing countries, including 17 countries in Africa, focusing on South-owned, South-led, demand-driven sustainable development projects," India's Permanent Representative to the UN pointed out.

"As Prime Minister Modi has said at the UN in the past“… let us pledge to reform the global multilateral system to enhance its relevance, to improve its effectiveness to make it the basis for a new type of human-centric globalization”. Going forward, India will continue to be a force multiplier for all peacebuilding efforts driven by this very “human-centric” approach," she added.

Noting that the world today has come to better grasp the complex and inter-linked facets of peacebuilding, Kamboj explained that the global perspective on addressing conflicts has undergone a paradigmatic shift: from resolution, reconciliation and recovery to prevention and reconstruction, thereby making peacebuilding a critical pillar in our collective response to conflict situations.

India, as one of the leading Troop / Police Contributing Countries to UN peacekeeping missions, has been an active member of the PBC since its inception.

"As we speak, we have more than 5,500 personnel deployed across 9 missions. Serving under the blue flag, 177 gallant Indian soldiers have made the supreme sacrifice, the largest number amongst the T/PCCs," she said.

India has always played a constructive and significant role in the context of peacebuilding through its extensive development partnership with countries of the Global South. India continues to assist countries through bilateral and multilateral fora in post-conflict situations by providing substantial grants and soft loans.

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, India further strengthened existing developmental partnerships with the Global South. Guided by the ‘Kampala Principles’-- enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2018 during his address to the Ugandan Parliament--a total of 204 LOCs to the tune of more than US$12 billion have been extended by India to 42 African countries, Kamboj pointed out.