‘Partners for Multilateralism’: India to attend inaugural meeting of new non-superpower grouping at UN

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will attend the ‘Partners for Multilateralism’ (P4M) meeting in New York. File Image | Photo credit: Reuters

India will join several countries that have pledged to support United Nations (UN)-based multilateralism, away from “great power” politics, as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attends the “Partners for Multilateralism” (P4M) meeting in New York.

Mr Jaishankar landed in New York on Monday (September 21) at the start of a “high-level debate” at the UN General Assembly. He is scheduled to hold a number of bilateral and multilateral meetings there, and on September 26 he will address the UN General Assembly.

The P4M initiative, founded by the leaders of the European Union, Brazil, Kenya and Canada, is expected to address the group at a “high-level debate” at the UN General Assembly this week.

In a joint editorial, representatives of the four founders said the grouping would support the UN but seek to make it more representative and ready for global challenges, including AI (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 credible,” the leaders, including EC President Antonio Costa, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Kenyan President William Rutto and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, said in an editorial published in Britain’s Financial Times.

Mr Carney gave a speech about the “middle powers” that met at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year, signaling growing discontent not only with Russia and China over unilateral moves and conflicts, but also with the United States over trade and tariffs, expansionist moves and the conflict in Iran that occurred during US President Donald Trump’s second term.

Collective action

It is not clear whether India has been asked to join the joint message. India is already part of a number of groups such as the Non-Aligned Movement, BRICS, G20 and G-4 that have similar goals.

Monday’s editorial pointed to comments by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in which he said “powers are discovering their limits”, adding that P4M believes “the international community must rediscover the extraordinary potential of collective action”. Mr Guterres, who will leave office later this year, spoke to The Hindu between five global offices in the US, UK, South Africa, the Gulf region and India.

“We have great powers that have not yet realized that there are limits to their power, and they are embarking on adventures that have terrible results,” Mr. Guterres said, pointing specifically to Russia, which four years later was still embroiled in the war in Ukraine, while the U.S. faces “trouble” with the war in Iran.

“I think the time has come for the superpowers to understand the limits of their power and that will help the world become more peaceful,” Mr Guterres told The Hindu in New Delhi, where he was attending the 18th BRICS summit.

The editorial also stated that “Partners for Multilateralism” will 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 willing to work across differences, build coalitions for reform, and translate shared principles into practical action,” the co-authors wrote, noting that 2025 saw the highest recorded number of state armed conflicts since 1946 in 35 countries and the highest recorded military spending of nearly 3 $.

Published – 21 Sep 2026 13:27 IST