UNITED NATIONS: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited the United Nations in New York on Saturday to meet with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the 193-member world body’s annual gathering of leaders.
“It was a lovely meeting,” Markle told reporters as the couple left UN headquarters.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are in New York to attend the Global Citizen Live concert in Central Park later on Saturday, which aims to push for greater action to combat climate change and urge rich countries to share one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines with nations most in need.
On Thursday, the 37-year-old prince and Meghan, 40, visited the city’s memorial for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. They were accompanied by New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The couple quit their royal duties last year to build an independent life and moved from Britain to California, where they live with their two children — two-year-old Archie and Lilibet, who was born in June.
They have launched their Archewell Foundation as well as cutting lucrative deals for producing TV shows and a podcast. Last week the couple graced the cover of Time magazine’s annual 100 most influential people in the world issue.
World leaders returned to the United Nations over the past week with a focus on boosting efforts to fight both climate change and COVID-19. Last year leaders sent video statements for the annual high-level UN General Assembly instead of traveling to New York amid the pandemic.
Guterres also met with Queen Maxima of the Netherlands on Thursday. She is Guterres’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development.
When Harry — and Meghan — met the UN chief in New York
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When Harry — and Meghan — met the UN chief in New York
- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are in New York to attend the Global Citizen Live concert in Central Park
- On Thursday, the 37-year-old prince and Meghan, 40, visited the city's memorial for the Sept. 11
India, Arab League target $500bn in trade by 2030
- It was the first such gathering of India–Arab FMs since the forum’s inauguration in 2016
- India and Arab states agree to link their startup ecosystems, cooperate in the space sector
NEW DELHI: India and the Arab League have committed to doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, as their top diplomats met in New Delhi for the India–Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The foreign ministers’ forum is the highest mechanism guiding India’s partnership with the Arab world. It was established in March 2002, with an agreement to institutionalize dialogue between India and the League of Arab States, a regional bloc of 22 Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa.
The New Delhi meeting on Saturday was the first gathering in a decade, following the inaugural forum in Bahrain in 2016.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said in his opening remarks that the forum was taking place amid a transformation in the global order.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in West Asia or the Middle East, where the landscape itself has undergone a dramatic change in the last year,” he said. “This obviously impacts all of us, and India as a proximate region. To a considerable degree, its implications are relevant for India’s relationship with Arab nations as well.”
Jaishankar and his UAE counterpart co-chaired the talks, which aimed at producing a cooperation agenda for 2026-28.
“It currently covers energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, culture and education, amongst others,” Jaishankar said.
“India looks forward to more contemporary dimensions of cooperation being included, such as digital, space, start-ups, innovation, etc.”
According to the “executive program” released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the roadmap agreed by India and the League outlined their planned collaboration, which included the target “to double trade between India and LAS to US$500 billion by 2030, from the current trade of US$240 billion.”
Under the roadmap, they also agreed to link their startup ecosystems by facilitating market access, joint projects, and investment opportunities — especially health tech, fintech, agritech, and green technologies — and strengthen cooperation in space with the establishment of an India–Arab Space Cooperation Working Group, of which the first meeting is scheduled for next year.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing momentum in Indo-Arab relations focused on economic, business, trade and investment ties between the regions that have some of the world’s youngest demographics, resulting in a “commonality of circumstances, visions and goals,” according to Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“The focus of the summit meeting was on capitalizing on the economic opportunities … including in the field of energy security, sustainability, renewables, food and water security, environmental security, trade, investments, entrepreneurship, start-ups, technological innovations, educational cooperation, cultural cooperation, youth engagement, etc.,” Quamar told Arab News.
“A number of critical decisions have been taken for furthering future cooperation in this regard. In terms of opportunities, there is immense potential.”
