India commits to UN development plan to adapt to new priorities amid Covid

"Prioritising the needs of the poor and vulnerable will have to receive the highest priority with respect to digital initiatives," says TS Tirumurti, India's new Permanent Representative to UN

TS Tirumurti, India's new Permanent Representative to United Nations, on Thursday, assured New Delhi's commitment to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to adapt to new development priorities amid Covid-19 pandemic.

"As one of the largest contributors to UNDP among the developing countries, we take a keen interest in the Organisation's success. I assure you of our steadfast commitment to UNDP in catering to Covid times and beyond to adapt to new development priorities," Ambassador T S Tirumurti said in a statement.

Talking on the issue of ongoing coronavirus outbreak Ambassador Tirumurti said, "The global outbreak of Covid-19 triggered a health crisis, which has quickly transformed into an economic, social and humanitarian crisis with potential long-term effects on development prospects."

Noting the use of digital tools amid the fight against Covid-19, he said, "It is also hard to imagine how the world would have coped with such disruption by Covid-19 without the digital tools that we possess today. Hence, technology and digital people-centric solutions should become a critical component of our development paradigm."

"Prioritizing the needs of the poor and vulnerable will have to receive the highest priority with respect to digital initiatives. In recent years, India has undertaken transformative development and people-friendly programmes fully integrated through digital technology," he added.

Ambassador T S Tirumurti also laid empathises on the need of developing countries amid the pandemic, saying, 'It is equally important to focus on specific priority sectors since developing countries may be hit in varying degrees depending on their worst affected sectors, for example, tourism."

He further noted that "India has taken every effort, despite the difficult circumstances at home, to extend its support to our partners around the world. From supply of essential medicines, testing kits, PPEs, to deployment of Rapid Response Teams to developing an 'Information Exchange Platform' and to conducting courses by our premier health care institutions under our flagship ITEC programme, for India, development partnership is critical to South-South Partnership.