UN Secretary-General to Use India BRICS Summit to Publicly Call for Multipolarity and Security Council Reform

UN Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in New Delhi this week to attend the 18th BRICS Summit and deliver a public address on multilateral institutional reform. According to The Hindu's international edition, Guterres will emphasize at the open session on September 13 that multipolarity helps balance the global system and institutions, but only on the condition that multilateral institutions, including the Bretton Woods system and the UN Security Council, are reformed to reflect "today's economic, demographic and geopolitical realities."

Guterres's spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said at a regular press briefing at UN headquarters in New York on the 9th that the Secretary-General will point out in his speech that today's economic, demographic and geopolitical realities are different from those of 1945, and that the participating countries represent "this changed reality." Guterres's second term will end in December this year. His delivery of such a clearly stated position at a multilateral forum led by the Global South itself sends a clear political signal — that the UN Secretariat acknowledges that the legitimacy of the current governance structure is being systematically challenged by emerging economies.

This BRICS summit, hosted by India, will be held in New Delhi on September 12-13, with the open session themed "Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability: Shaping an Inclusive Future for Global Growth." This is the fourth time India has served as BRICS chair, following 2012, 2016 and 2021, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the mechanism's establishment. The agenda is expected to broadly discuss pressing global challenges such as the economic impact of the West Asian crisis. Guterres is also expected to meet with Indian Prime Minister Modi and hold bilateral talks with other participating country representatives.

India has long made Security Council reform one of the core demands of its diplomacy, arguing that the 15-member Council does not adequately reflect the geopolitical and economic realities of the 21st century, and has actively pursued a permanent seat. Guterres's remarks in New Delhi directly echo India's longstanding position and provide high-level endorsement for India to advance the issue of Security Council expansion at the summit.

By pairing multipolarity with institutional reform, Guterres is essentially touching on the dual imbalances of the postwar international order: under the Bretton Woods system, the quotas and voting rights of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have long been tilted toward Western countries; the Security Council, meanwhile, has its permanent seats monopolized by the five victorious powers of World War II, with the veto mechanism allowing any permanent member to unilaterally block substantive resolutions. These two structural injustices are at the core of the Global South's persistent demands for change, and are issues that have repeatedly appeared on the agenda of successive BRICS summits yet have never achieved substantive breakthroughs.

The specific strength of Guterres's remarks still awaits verification against the original text, particularly the extent of his criticism of the veto mechanism and whether he will propose a clear plan for Security Council expansion. The response of the United States and its Western allies to the Secretary-General's public endorsement of multipolarity has not yet emerged.