UN chief emphasized multipolarity, UNSC reforms at BRICS summit in India

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to emphasize that multipolarity can help balance global systems and institutions. File | Photo credit: AP

Addressing the BRICS summit in India later this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will emphasize the importance of multipolarity and the need to reform multilateral institutions, including the Security Council, to reflect contemporary realities.

Mr Guterres will travel to New Delhi on Thursday (September 10, 2026) to attend the 18th BRICS Summit, which will be held on September 12-13 in New Delhi.

He was invited to speak at an open session on 13 September on “Resilience, Innovation, Collaboration and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth”.

“It is expected that the Secretary-General will note in his remarks that today’s economic, demographic and geopolitical reality is not the reality of 1945, and that the countries represented at the summit speak for this changing reality,” UN chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at a daily press conference at the United Nations headquarters on Wednesday (September 9, 2026).

Mr Guterres is also expected to “stress that multipolarity can help bring balance to global systems and institutions”, but this would require reforms of multilateral institutions, including the Bretton Woods system and the Security Council, to reflect today’s reality, he said.

The call for Security Council reform has been a long-standing demand by India and several other countries, which say the composition of the 15-member body does not adequately reflect the geopolitical and economic realities of the 21st century.

India is seeking a permanent seat on the Council as part of its campaign for a comprehensive reform of the UN’s highest decision-making body.

Mr Guterres is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hold bilateral talks with other officials attending the summit, Dujarric said.

India is the BRICS chairman for 2026. It is a founding member of BRICS and previously held the chairmanship in 2012, 2016 and 2021. The country assumed its fourth BRICS chairmanship on January 1, coinciding with the grouping completing 20 years since its inception.

The 18th BRICS Summit will bring together leaders of BRICS member and partner countries as well as invited participants.

The meeting is expected to extensively discuss a number of pressing global challenges, including the economic implications of the crisis in West Asia.

The theme of India’s BRICS Chairmanship is ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’.

Mr Guterres, whose second five-year term as UN chief ends in December 2026, last visited India in February to attend the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi. The Summit was the first Global Summit on Artificial Intelligence held in the Global South and focused on the principles of “People, Planet and Progress”.

Published – 10 Sep 2026 13:06 IST