India’s approach to multilateral engagement is of mutual respect and solidarity, an eminent UN envoy has said, asserting that the Global South depends on the “India way” in contributing to shaping the future.
“One of the important leaders today in the Global South is your good country India,” Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the UN Ambassador Inga Rhonda King said on Tuesday.
Addressing an online conference, ‘The UN Summit of the Future: What It Means for India and the World’ organised by the Centre for Global India Insights (CGII) and India Writes Network, King said India’s approach to multilateral engagement is mutual respect and solidarity.
“Today, the Global South depends on the India way in contributing to shaping the future,” the Caribbean nation’s UN envoy said.
The webinar came just days before world leaders are set to gather at the UN headquarters here for the landmark Summit of the Future on September 22-23, followed by the annual General Assembly high-level week.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Summit on September 23 after attending the Quad Leaders’ Summit hosted by President Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware, on September 21 and addressing a mega community event in Long Island on September 22.
King said the international community needs “your kind of solidarity”, stressing that it was under India’s leadership that the G20 was expanded to include the African Union. “That is the future. India’s approach to vaccine diplomacy during the COVID-19 pandemic — that is the way of the future. The India UN Development Partnership Fund, where you leave the partner to decide how we use the funds that you provide — that is the way of mutual respect and solidarity,” she said.
“This is the new multilateral way, the India way – solidarity within the Global South. I am very passionate by the way India practices multilateralism,” King said.
Speaking at the panel discussion, India’s former Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said the UN Summit is being hailed as a “landmark moment” for multilateralism, but the actual impact of its outcomes depends on whether lofty ideals can be translated into actionable commitments and whether global power dynamics will allow for meaningful change.
At the Summit, world leaders are set to adopt the Pact of the Future by consensus, which will include a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations.
Kamboj added that while the Pact is a bold, aspirational framework aimed at revamping global cooperation, previous pacts like the Paris Agreement or the Sustainable Development Goals have often struggled with enforcement and accountability.
“The real challenge will be ensuring that this pact moves beyond symbolic declarations to concrete, enforceable mechanisms,” she said, adding that without legally binding commitments, there’s always a risk that the pact could become yet another agreement diluted by national interest, particularly from major powers.
UN officials have said the pact offers “groundbreaking” language on the long-pending Security Council reforms. Kamboj said the Summit’s emphasis on multilateral reform, particularly within the United Nations, reflects long-standing calls for a more representative and effective global governance system.
“However, reforming institutions like the United Nations Security Council has been discussed for decades with little progress due to opposition from some of the existing permanent members. These powers are unlikely to relinquish their privileged positions, making significant reform difficult,” she said.
“So while the summit might reaffirm the need for a more inclusive multilateral system, real change in institutional structures may be slow and incremental, if it happens at all,” she added.
Speaking in the webinar, former UN Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women Lakshmi Puri said that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has pointed out that there are too many multilateral crises and problems but not enough multilateral means to fix them.
“There is the East-West divide and the North-South divide,” Puri said, adding that the UN Secretariat is not being able to bridge these gaps. Puri said that after 35 years of saying there is a need for more equitable representation, “it has been impossible to do anything about UN Security Council expansion and reform,” adding that this is where the Summit of the Future comes in.
The Summit has been presented by the Secretary-General as a “once in a generation” opportunity to “build trust, to bridge this divide and bring outdated multilateral institutions and frameworks into line with today’s world based on equity and solidarity.”
UN Resident Coordinator in India Shombi Sharp underlined that there is no greater proponent of reform of the United Nations than Guterres himself, who says that “we can’t build a future for our grandchildren with the system that was built for our grandparents.”
Sharp added that the Summit of the Future is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to “take stock of where we are and to understand what are those tough choices that we need to make moving forward” and added that the Pact for the Future is a negotiated framework to “guide us on that journey.”
Climate and Social Development Expert at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Vanshika Kant, pointed out that financing remains a major challenge for developing countries seeking to address climate change. She highlighted the critical role of multilateral development banks in mobilizing the necessary resources. Climate finance is key to bridging the gap between promises and action, she said.
