<span style="color: #222222;">Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu today emphasized the need for reforms in the United Nations Security Council and other key international organizations so as to make them reflective of the contemporary realities of today and capable enough to deal with the contemporary challenges. Addressing the first Plenary Session of the 13th ASEM Summit virtually from New Delhi today, Mr Naidu said that the world is witnessing and grappling with rapid economic, technological and security challenges and the current multilateral system has fallen short in providing an effective response to these challenges. He also underlined that reformed multilateralism is a key driving principle that India has pursued for a purposeful reform of existing global institutional structures.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' Mr Naidu observed that development suffers without peace and highlighted that the lack of development and stifled economic progress create fertile ground for violence and instability. He called for efforts towards promoting economic activity and enhancing the livelihood security and suggested that it will go a long way in the recovery of nations adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stressing the need to mitigate the causes of persistent insecurity at a global level, the Vice President highlighted the need for reforms in the international structure responsible for maintaining global peace and security.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' Mr Naidu opined that the multitude of challenges of today's dynamic and interdependent world cannot be addressed with outdated systems that were designed to deal with the challenges of the past and expressed an urgent need to re-imagine international cooperation and expand its ambit further. He said, it is the lack of a coordinated global response that has exposed the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of the multilateral system as it stands today.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' The Vice President also said that the pandemic has exposed the fault lines from unreliable global supply chains to inequitable vaccine distribution, further underlining the need for global solidarity and strengthened multilateralism. Noting that the re-imagined post pandemic world will make profoundly different demands from the multilateral system, he highlighted four important areas for international economic cooperation namely, resilient and reliable supply chains, health security, digital for development and green and sustainable recovery.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' Mr Naidu congratulated all participating members on the 25th Anniversary of ASEM process which was established in the year 1996. Praising ASEM for bringing leaders and people from both the continents together to resolve the issues of global concern, he reaffirmed India's commitment to work towards strengthening the forces of cooperative multilateralism.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' The two-day Summit that was inaugurated today is being hosted by Cambodia in virtual format and is themed on Strengthening Multilateralism for Shared Growth. The Indian delegation at the ASEM-13 is led by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who will also address the Retreat Session of the Summit tomorrow.</span><br />''