India Joins “Partners for Multilateralism” Forum at UN

Synopsis

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will lead the Indian Delegation to the United States for the High-Level Week at the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. During the visit, India will join several countries committed to supporting United Nations (UN) based multilateralism, away from superpower politics, as S. Jaishankar will attend the Partners for Multilateralism meet in New York on September 21, 2026.

Partners for Multilateralism

The P4M initiative is an initiative started by the leaders of the European Union (EU), Brazil, Kenya, and Canada. The group is expected to propose a pitch at the UNGA’s “high-level debate” scheduled for this week.

The grouping will show their support for the UN, however push their demands for more representation and preparedness 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,” the leaders, including EC President Antonio Costa, Brazil President Lula da Silva, Kenyan President William Rutto and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote in an editorial published in the U.K.-based Financial Times.

This move comes as Mark Carney recently delivered a speech in January on “Middle powers” coming together at the World Economic Forum at Davos, signaling growing dissatisfaction with Russia and China over conflicts as well as U.S. due to its recent trade and tariffs conflict, expansionist motives and conflict with Iran.

UN’s Response

The remarks made by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stating how the superpowers are discovering their limits and the P4M bloc must work towards rediscovering the extraordinary potential of collective action, talking especially about Russia as it continues its war with Ukraine and U.S. faces difficulties with Iran.

During the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi he called for superpowers to realize the limits of their powers and thereby help the world become more peaceful.

“We have superpowers that have not yet recognized that their power has limits and they get into adventures that produce terrible results.”

Way Forward

The “Partners for Multilateralism” is not meant as an exclusive bloc or international bureaucracy but rather to create a flexible and open framework for countries across regions and political traditions, willing to work across divides to build coalitions for reform and translate shared principles into action. This initiative comes as 2025 saw the highest recorded number of state-based armed conflicts since 1946 in 35 countries with a military spending of 3 trillion dollars.

India is already part of number of blocs including Non-Aligned Movement, BRICS, G-4, G-20 etc. S Jaishankar will lead India’s delegation at the UN sessions all week and make a national address at UNGA on Saturday, September 26, 2026 followed by P4M inaugural session for 6:30 p.m. in New York and a press conference.