Jaishankar discusses geopolitical trends with Antonio Guterres

After meeting Antonio Guterres, Jaishankar said: "Pleased to meet @UN

Secretary-General @antonioguterres today in New York."

He further said: "Discussed UN@80, geopolitical trends, current hotspots & India’s perspectives."

In his address to the General Assembly, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s Minister for External Affairs outlined the failings of a “gridlocked” UN, whilst asserting the need for more international cooperation and a reformed Organisation.

“How has the UN lived up to expectations,” asked Jaishankar, pointing to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as West Asia and “innumerable hotspots” which “don’t even make the news.”

The minister decried a perceived lack of global solidarity on a number of issues: he described the slow progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (which are way off track for completion by the 2030 deadline) as “a sorry picture,” condemned the “recirculated commitments and creative accounting” that, he said, pass for climate action, and accused wealthy countries of insulating themselves energy and food insecurity, whilst resource-stressed nations “scramble to survive only to hear sanctimonious lectures thereafter.”

Global economic concerns include “tariff volatility and uncertain market access,” argued the minister, technological control, supply chain and critical minerals, the protection of sea lanes and restrictions on the evolution of a global workplace.

These issues point to a need for more international cooperation, he suggested, whilst questioning the UN’s ability to solve them.

Jaishankar declared the UN is “in a state of crisis,” and gridlocked, partly due to a resistance to reform even though most members want change.

“It is imperative that we see through the cynicism and purposefully address the reform agenda,” he declared.

Facing up to terrorism

In a reference to ongoing disputes with Pakistan, Jaishankar asserted that, for several decades, major international terrorist attacks have been traced back to India’s neighbour.

He said that India exercises its right to defend its people against terrorism and bring its perpetrators to justice. Fighting this threat, he said, is an area where much deeper international cooperation is needed, and relentless pressure put on the whole terror ecosystem.