“Looking Positively”: India Ahead Of UN Meeting On Afghanistan In Doha

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday that India is looking “positively” at the meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan to be hosted by UN chief Antonio Guterres in Doha next month.

UN Secretary-General Guterres will be hosting the meeting in Doha on May 1 and 2.

“We’re looking at it. We’re looking at it positively, but I guess we’ll take a call closer to the time but we are looking at it,” Mr Jaishankar said here in response to a question on whether India will be participating in the meeting.

Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said the purpose of the small group meeting is to reinvigorate international engagement around the common objectives for a durable way forward on the situation in Afghanistan.

“The Secretary-General has said and continues to believe that it’s an urgent priority to advance an approach based on pragmatism and principles, combined with strategic patience, and to identify parameters for creative, flexible, principled, and constructive engagement.

“It is his aim that the discussions, which will be held behind closed doors, can contribute to a more unified consensus regarding the challenges ahead,” Mr Dujarric said.

Mr Jaishankar is on his way to South America, beginning a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic on Friday.

Before his visit, he arrived in New York and met Mr Guterres, discussing the situation in Sudan with the UN chief.