United Nations, Sep 16 (IANS) United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed on Wednesday the declaration BRICS adopted in New Delhi over the weekend with a “strong commitment to multilateralism”.
It is “important” that the BRICS summit produced “a common declaration with a strong commitment of all of them to multilateralism and by all of them to the United Nations”, Guterres said at a news conference.
“So, from that point of view, it is reassuring that a large number of the important powers that exist in the world believe that multilateralism is the way to address crises, and that the UN must be at the centre,” the UN Chief said.
He noted that not all countries of the UN Security Council were at the summit, which he attended, but said the presence of “important powers” was important.
Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, whose countries are permanent members of the UN Security Council, attended the summit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chaired the summit, and Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira represented two countries aspiring for permanent membership and have wide support among UN members for it.
The US, France and Britain were not at the summit as BRICS represents emerging economic nations that demand a greater say in international institutions that are disproportionately dominated by the Western nations.
The US under President Donald Trump is the main country that is opposed to multilateralism as he pursues his own version of unilateralism, trying to diminish the role of the UN and other institutions.
He has opposed the BRICS seeing it as a challenge to his attempt at imposing a unilateral global power structure dominated by the US.
The New Delhi Declaration 2026, adopted at the 18th BRICS Summit in the national capital on September 12, welcomed the deepening of cooperation in global health initiatives and reaffirmed the bloc’s commitment to advancing universal health coverage through resilient, inclusive, and people-centred approaches.
“We recognise the significance of continued cooperation among the BRICS members and the necessity of sharing valuable experiences, innovations and best practices for improving health outcomes across the BRICS countries. We reiterate our shared conviction that multilateral cooperation in health must be preserved and reinforced, emphasising the vital coordinating role of the World Health Organisation,” the declaration said.
–IANS
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