India 'very important', but...: UN chief on UNSC membership

September 08, 2023 22:13

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Friday described India as "the country of the world" and a "very important" partner in the multilateral system but said it is for the members and not him to decide on its UN Security Council membership.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi ahead of the G20 Summit, he made a strong pitch for immediate reforms to UNSC and other multilateral institutions, as he asserted that the future of the world is multipolar but "our multilateral institutions reflect a bygone age".

Asked whether it was time for India to become a member of the UNSC, he said, "It is not for me to decide who would be in UNSC, it is for the members."

"But it is obvious that India is today the country of the world with the largest population and it is a very important partner in the multilateral system," he said.

"All I can say that I believe that we need reform in multilateral system to reflect today's world," Guterres added.

Asked whether there should be timeline for reforms to the multilateral institutions, he said, "There is a need to do it but I am not sure if we get it, but I think it is urgent."

Guterres hoped India's presidency of G20 will help achieve the transformative changes that the world desperately needs as he warned against the catastrophe of growing divisions and eroding trust in a fragmented world.

He said the phrase of 'One Earth, One Family and One Future' adopted by India as G20 theme, inspired by the Mahaupanishad, finds profound resonance in today's world.

"If we are indeed one global family, today we resemble rather a dysfunctional one," he added.

Guterres said, "I hope that India's presidency of G20 will help achieve the kind of transformative change that our world desperately needs, in line with the repeated committed of India to act on behalf of the global south and its determination to pursue developmental agenda."

"Divisions are growing, tensions are flaring up and trust is eroding, which together raise the spectre of fragmentation and ultimately confrontation. This fracturing world would be deeply concerning in the best of times, but in our times it spells catastrophe," he added.

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