India joins new 'Partners for Multilateralism' bloc at UN: Jaishankar to attend first meet
India will take part in the inaugural session of "Partners for Multilateralism" (P4M), a grouping of countries that says it wants to strengthen the United Nations and move away from what it describes as "superpower" politics. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will represent India at the meeting in New York.
Mr. Jaishankar arrived in New York on Monday, as the UN General Assembly's high-level debate session opened. He is expected to hold a number of bilateral and multilateral meetings during his visit and will address the General Assembly on September 26.
The P4M initiative was founded by the leaders of the European Union, Brazil, Kenya and Canada, and is being formally presented during this week's high-level debate.
In a joint editorial published in the Financial Times, the four founders said the grouping would support the United Nations while pressing for it to become more representative and better prepared for global challenges, including artificial intelligence, climate change, health security and digital transformation.
"P4M will support the reform of the UN and other multilateral institutions, to make them more representative, legitimate, effective and trusted," wrote European Council President Antonio Costa, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Kenyan President William Ruto and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The initiative follows a speech by Mr. Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, in which he spoke of "middle powers" coming together. That address was widely seen as reflecting growing unease among mid-sized economies over unilateral actions by larger states, including Russia and China and, on trade and tariffs, the United States.
It is not clear whether India was asked to endorse the joint message. India is already a member of several groupings with broadly similar objectives, including the Non-Aligned Movement, BRICS, the G20 and the G-4, which campaigns for reform of the UN Security Council.
The editorial cited UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has said that "superpowers are discovering their limits" and that the "international community must rediscover the extraordinary potential of collective action". Mr. Guterres, whose term as Secretary-General ends later this year, made the remarks during an interaction with a group of international news organisations, including The Hindu.
"We have superpowers that have not yet recognised that their power has limits and they get into adventures that produce terrible results," Mr. Guterres said, pointing to Russia's continuing war in Ukraine and to the difficulties the United States faces in its conflict involving Iran. "I think it's time for superpowers to understand the limits of their power, and that will help the world become more peaceful," he said.
The co-authors stressed that P4M would not create another exclusive bloc or international bureaucracy. "Its purpose is the opposite: to create a flexible, open framework for countries from different regions and political traditions that are willing to work across divides, to build coalitions for reform and to translate shared principles into practical action," they wrote.
They also cited what they described as the highest number of state-based armed conflicts recorded since 1946, spread across 35 countries, along with the highest military spending on record, at nearly $3 trillion.
For India, participation in the P4M meeting sits alongside its long-standing position that multilateral institutions must be reformed to reflect present-day realities. New Delhi has consistently argued for an expanded Security Council and for greater representation of developing countries in global decision-making bodies.
Further details of the grouping's membership, work programme and decision-making structure are expected to emerge during the General Assembly session.
