New Delhi [India], September 14 (ANI): Uruguay Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin on Monday expressed concern over the growing number of conflicts across the world and called for stronger cooperation with India on global peacekeeping, saying both countries make a “huge contribution” by providing personnel for peacekeeping missions.
“Ours is a peaceful country. Historical peace, we have always had. And that is our worry: conflicts are increasing, and that is very bad news,” Lubetkin told ANI.
The Uruguayan Foreign Minister said India and Uruguay are among the countries that contribute significantly to international peacekeeping efforts, with their personnel putting themselves at risk in conflict-affected parts of the world to help preserve peace.
“India and Uruguay provide a lot of peacekeepers to the world, and that is part of our contribution, a huge contribution, because it is our people who put themselves at risk in other areas of the world to try to preserve peace,” he said.
Lubetkin said there was not enough recognition of the contribution made by India, Uruguay and other countries to global peacekeeping, and suggested that the two countries should work together to highlight their efforts and coordinate more closely.
“I think that there is not really enough recognition of what India, Uruguay and other countries are doing. Perhaps it is part of our responsibility that we need to highlight this, push it, and perhaps coordinate better together,” he said.
“Perhaps this is another area in which we need to work more with our friends from India,” he added.
Highlighting Uruguay’s regional peace agenda, Lubetkin said the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) had in 2015 decided that the region should remain peaceful and free of nuclear weapons.
“Today, I can say to you that it is the only region in the world where there are no wars or conflicts, and there are no nuclear weapons. And I think that is a very strong value addition,” he said.
Lubetkin, whose country currently chairs CELAC, said Uruguay would work with countries in the region to preserve this status, describing it as one of the major challenges and contributions that Latin America can make to the world.
“We, as chair of CELAC, want to work with the countries of the region to try to maintain this. This is one of the big challenges and one of the big contributions that my region needs to make to the world,” he said.
Asserting that ongoing global conflicts cannot be resolved on the battlefield, Lubetkin also called for immediate political negotiation to end escalating hostilities in West Asia and Eastern Europe.
He argued that despite extensive military campaigns in Gaza that have resulted in severe humanitarian casualties, strategic objectives remain unfulfilled without a framework for peaceful resolution.
"The key goal that Israel wanted—and in that destroyed Gaza, and in that killed thousands of people, women, children—in the end of the day they couldn’t achieve the goal that they proposed," Lubetkin stated.
"The goal that they proposed is, 'Okay, we need to be peaceful around our borders, and for that, we need to destroy Hamas.' But after what happened, after this disaster, that continues... That shows that this is not the way. If there are no negotiations, no way," he added.
On his meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Lubetkin described it as one of the most important moments of his visit to India, saying the engagement builds on the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi.
He said India-Uruguay relations were also witnessing greater diplomatic engagement, noting that India now has an Ambassador in Uruguay and that the building of the Indian Embassy there is expected to be completed in the coming months.
On the New Delhi Declaration, Lubetkin said it addressed a wide range of issues, including peace and stability, the changing geopolitical scenario, environmental concerns, economy, trade, artificial intelligence and other technological developments.
He said the declaration was useful for participating countries as it touched upon issues important to individual countries and leaders.
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the unanimous adoption of the New Delhi Declaration 2026 at the 18th BRICS Summit held in the national capital over the weekend.
The declaration expressed deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions in West Asia and called for exercising maximum restraint, as well as avoiding actions that could further aggravate the situation.
The BRICS bloc also called for the implementation of the relevant UNGA and UNSC Resolutions and urged all parties to ensure the maintenance of the ceasefire and full and unhindered humanitarian access in the Gaza Strip. (ANI)
‘Conflicts increasing, very bad news’: Uruguay FM Mario Lubetkin pitches stronger India cooperation on global peacekeeping
