Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday addressed the Summit of the Future at the UN General Assembly in New York and said “when we talk of global future, then a human-centric approach has to get top priority.”

Conveying the message of the one-sixth of humanity, after being re-elected as India’s Prime Minister for the third consecutive time in the biggest election in human history, he said while giving priority to sustainable development, “we have to ensure human welfare, food and health security also.”

India has shown by taking 25 crore people taken out of poverty that sustainable development can be successful, and India is ready to share its experience of this success with the global South, he said.

The Prime Minister said “success of humanity lies in our collective strength and not in the battlefield.” He said world peace and development require reforms in global institutions. Reform is the key to relevance.

He said entry of African Union in the Delhi G20 Summit as permanent member was step in that direction. Global peace and security face a major threat from terrorism on the one side, and on the other side, cyber, maritime, Space are coming up as new areas of challenge. On all these, “I will stress global action must match global ambition,” he said.

Mr Modi said safe and responsible use of technology requires balanced regulation. “We need global digital governance which allows national sovereignty and integrity to remain unharmed. Digital public infrastructure should be a bridge and not a barrier; for global good, India is ready to share its digital public infrastructure with the whole world,” the Prime Minister said.

“For India, One Earth, One family, One future is a commitment. The same commitment applies to One Earth, One Health, One Sun, One World, One Grid initiatives of the country,” he said. For protection of interests of the whole humanity and for world prosperity, India will continue to work with “mansa, wacha, karmana” (with intent, word and deed), he said.

The Summit of the Future was held as an occasion for the global community to chart the road ahead for the betterment of humanity.