Jaishankar says BRICS backs UN reform, not a challenge to world body
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said it is "a false choice" to ask countries to choose between groupings such as BRICS and the United Nations, stressing that smaller groups support the UN and want it to be reformed. He said the UN has shortcomings but also major achievements, and should not be dismissed.
Speaking at a discussion on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Jaishankar said BRICS and the UN should not be seen in opposition to each other. He said BRICS supports the UN and that many of its members want to push reform of the global body.
Addressing a session titled 'Ruptures & Ramparts: Building Bridges for a Changing World', organised by the Observer Research Foundation, Reliance Foundation, UN in India and the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, Jaishankar said, "The UN is the UN. It may have many shortcomings. It also has many achievements, and obviously, when you want to reform it, when you want to change it, it's natural to focus on the shortcomings. But I don't think that should lead us to be dismissive of the UN." He added, "At the end of the day, if there wasn't a UN, we'd all be sitting here trying to invent one." The session was moderated by ORF President Samir Saran and included Jamaica's Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith, Suriname Foreign Minister Melvin Bouva, Ghana Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and East-West Center President and Chief Executive Celeste Connors.
Referring to the BRICS Leaders' Summit that India hosted on September 12 and 13, Jaishankar said, "One of the points in the BRICS is that the UN is central to the international system." He added, "So it's not BRICS or the UN. The BRICS is supportive of the UN and a large part of the BRICS would like to reform the UN, some more than others." He said the issues highlighted by BRICS, including resilience, sustainability, innovation and cooperation, are also key issues for the UN. "When we sit here at the high-level week in New York, a few kilometres away from the UN headquarters, I would look at it like what did the BRICS do to strengthen the UN and strengthen the cause of UN reform. I think it nudged it a little bit stronger. It indicated a certain pressure from bottom up," he said.
Jaishankar also said BRICS often gets "very interesting press", adding that the "mainstream press" is usually dismissive of the grouping until it meets, after which it gets "a bit worked up about it". He said the "true test" of BRICS came when it expanded beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. "We doubled our numbers, but believe me, we could have easily gone up four or five times. There was a huge demand from countries," he said, describing BRICS as a platform for "alternative thinking". He said BRICS is a non-Western platform, with members spanning multiple continents, and that what brings them together is "the sense that there are strong non-Western viewpoints and contributions and beliefs which need to be taken into account". He added that the non-Western part of the global debate is growing in weight, which is why BRICS is becoming more significant. The grouping includes Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
When asked to choose between interest, trust or value, Jaishankar said he would try to get the best out of all three, but added that trust has become a more dominant idea in diplomacy. "Values are often preached and not practiced" but trust is earned, he said. "Trust is record based. It is empirical. If you've done something good, something you know contributive, people remember it. If you have behaved badly, people remember that too," he said. Summing up his remarks, Jaishankar said the UN remains central to the international system, while platforms such as BRICS reflect growing demand for wider representation, reform and greater weight for non-Western voices.
