At BRICS Summit, Guterres to push UNSC reform and multipolarity

Unitednations,UPDATED: Sep 10, 2026 09:12 IST

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will use his address at the BRICS Summit in India later this week to stress the importance of multipolarity and the need to reform multilateral institutions, including the UN Security Council, to reflect present-day realities.

Guterres will travel to New Delhi on Thursday to attend the 18th BRICS Summit on September 12 and 13. He has been invited to address the Open Session on September 13 on the theme, "Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth".

UN chief's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the daily press briefing on Wednesday that, "In his remarks, the Secretary-General is expected to note that today's economic, demographic, and geopolitical realities are not those of 1945, and that countries represented at the summit speak for that changing reality." Dujarric added that Guterres is also expected to "underscore that multipolarity can help bring balance to global systems and institutions", but said this would require reforms to multilateral institutions, including the Bretton Woods system and the Security Council, to reflect today's realities.

The call for Security Council reform has been a longstanding demand of India and several other countries, which have argued that the composition of the 15-member body does not adequately reflect the geopolitical and economic realities of the 21st century. India has been seeking a permanent seat on the Council as part of its campaign for comprehensive reform of the UN's top decision-making body.

Dujarric said Guterres is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hold bilateral meetings with other officials attending the summit. India is the BRICS Chair for 2026. A founding member of BRICS, it previously held the chairship in 2012, 2016 and 2021. The country assumed its fourth BRICS chairship on January 1, coinciding with the grouping completing 20 years since its establishment.

The 18th BRICS Summit will bring together leaders of BRICS member and partner countries, along with outreach invitees. The meeting is expected to deliberate extensively on a number of pressing global challenges, including the economic consequences of the West Asia crisis. The theme of India's BRICS chairship is "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability".

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. That summit was the first global AI summit hosted in the Global South and focused on the principles of "People, Planet, and Progress". His latest visit will centre on the BRICS summit agenda, with a focus on global reform, cooperation and contemporary challenges.

With PTI Inputs

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