United Nations, Aug 27,2022:  UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid is to arrive in India on Sunday for a two-day visit.

He is scheduled to meet Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and discuss the “ongoing issues at the General Assembly, and India’s engagement with the United Nations”, according to his Spokesperson Paulina Kubiak.

Shahid will be coming to India from Tajikistan, which he visiting after a trip to Kuwait, as he prepares to wrap up his term in office next month.

Shahid, who was the foreign minister of the Maldives, made India his first stop in July last year after his election the previous month.

During that visit, he had met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India had backed Shahid’s candidature for the Assembly presidency and, after his election, lent him the services of senior Indian diplomat Nagaraj Naidu to be his chief of staff.

Shahid emerged as an important player in international diplomacy as his tenure has seen the role of the Assembly enhanced as the Security Council has been unable to act on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

For the first time in decades, the Assembly met to consider the issue under the format of the Uniting for Peace resolution, a provision for the Assembly to take up issues when the Council is unable to act.

The Council members have also been required now to explain their vetoes before the Assembly.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at aru.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)