Pranab Mukherjee addresses the reunion meeting of the Asian Forum on Global Governance

Speaking on the occasion, the President congratulated the Observer Research Foundation, the Zeit Stiftung and the dean of the Asian Forum for Global Governance, Shashi Tharoor, for creating this platform that brings together thinking and well meaning persons to debate the opportunities and challenges of the present day world.

The President said that global governance is a concept that has come to acquire increasing significance today.

Poverty eradication, environmental preservation of our planet, maintenance of peace, social inclusion etc. are at once the objectives of global governance and challenges to overcome, he said.

Global governance can acquire greater legitimacy through institutions that are more open and which find new and innovative ways to address issues. The United Nations turned seventy recently, the President said.

Restructuring of this global institution is required so that it reflects our times and rises to current challenges.

The President said that Global governance is not just about maintaining peace.

Manifold challenges are staring at us such as poverty, hunger, disease and exploitation of the resources of mother earth.

"Terrorism has assumed proportions which are difficult for individual nations to manage. Terrorism has no ideology except the wanton destruction of humanity. We need to deal with this menace in order to leave a safer world for the coming generations," he said.

The President said that two important documents have been concluded by the global community in the recent past – the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on countering climate change.

These two documents signify that the global community has agreed that it must be our common endeavour inter-alia to eradicate poverty and to develop and grow sustainably.