BRICS Summit: Guterres Likely to Call for UN, Bretton Woods Reforms

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to emphasise the need for a more multipolar global order and reforms to multilateral institutions, including the UN Security Council, when he addresses the BRICS Summit in New Delhi this week.

Guterres will arrive in the national capital on Thursday to attend the 18th BRICS Summit, scheduled for September 12 and 13. He has been invited to address the Open Session on September 13, which will focus on the theme, “Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth.”

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Guterres is expected to highlight that the world’s economic, demographic and geopolitical realities have changed significantly since 1945. Countries represented at the summit, he said, increasingly reflect this changing global landscape.

Guterres is also expected to argue that multipolarity can bring greater balance to global institutions, but that this would require reforms to the multilateral system, including the Bretton Woods institutions and the UN Security Council.

Security Council reform has been a longstanding demand of India and several other nations, which maintain that the 15-member body does not adequately represent present-day geopolitical and economic realities. India has been seeking a permanent seat on the Security Council as part of its campaign for comprehensive UN reforms.