United Nations, Nov 22 (PTI): The United Nations peacekeeping chief has said he “strongly” believes that there is a “great potential” for more cooperation with India on peacekeeping, highlighting that New Delhi has the capacity and technologies to help the Blue Helmets deployed in missions across the world.
Ahead of the next month’s UN Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting in Seoul, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said he had two messages for India, which is among the largest troop contributing nations to UN peacekeeping missions.
“One is the message of gratitude, because India is one of our strongest supporters in all areas – political support, support in terms of capacities and involvement in the field,” Lacroix told PTI in a recent interview here.
“Also I don’t forget the sacrifice” of those Indian peacekeepers who lost their lives over the years while serving in peacekeeping missions.
“In addition to that, the second message is strong expectations. India has the capacities that we need,” he said.
The UN Peacekeeping chief said India had the “capacity to help us” with qualified peacekeepers, both police and military, and the country “obviously” had the capacity to “help us to further increase the number of women in peacekeeping, both in the military and the police”.
“We would also expect to have more senior officers, female senior officers,” he said.
India, Lacroix said, had also a number of significant technologies that could really help UN peacekeepers, often referred to as Blue Berets or Blue Helmets because of their light-blue berets or helmets.
“So in all these areas, I believe that in addition to what India is already doing, which is a lot…we strongly believe that there’s a great potential for more in terms of our cooperation” with India, he asserted.
As of September, India is the third-highest contributor of personnel to UN peacekeeping, with 5,481 troops serving in 12 UN missions across the world. PTI