India Joins Partnership for Multilateralism as Jaishankar Pushes UNSC Candidature at UNGA

India on Monday joined the Partnership for Multilateralism, endorsing the "non-superpower" grouping originally launched by the European Union, Brazil, Canada and Kenya. New Delhi became an additional co-sponsor of the initiative, known as P4M, alongside Australia and Barbados.

The grouping's meeting, aimed at building support for the United Nations and multilateralism, was among several bilateral and multilateral engagements External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar attended as he and the Indian delegation work through a demanding week at the United Nations General Assembly.

A central objective of Jaishankar's visit is to gather backing for India's candidature in next year's election for a non-permanent United Nations Security Council seat for the 2028-2029 term.

Back-to-back engagements

Within hours of arriving in New York on Monday, Jaishankar met foreign ministers from France, Ecuador, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Moldova and Switzerland. He also met the President of Nauru, took part in the P4M meeting, held another meeting with EU ministers, and attended an India-Visegrad group meeting with Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia.

The meetings with European leaders, along with expected talks this week with counterparts from the United States and Canada, are also intended to prepare for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visits to Brussels, Miami and Ottawa in December.

Officials say the rest of the minister's schedule will be equally packed. He is expected to remain in New York until he addresses the General Assembly.

India has been elected to the UNSC eight times and has usually been the sole candidate put forward by the Asia-Pacific group. This time, however, Tajikistan has also launched its candidature, setting up a potential contest for the Asian seat unless New Delhi can secure a compromise and persuade the Tajik government to step aside in exchange for support in a future election.

Attention will therefore focus on any meeting between Jaishankar and Tajikistan Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin. His meetings with ministers from other Central Asian countries and the wider Global South will also be watched for announcements of support for India's bid. On the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Bishkek earlier this month, Modi met Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, though Ministry of External Affairs officials said they could not confirm whether any assurance on the UNSC seat was given, as the meeting was held with restricted access.

Other key engagements

The visit comes days after the U.S. Congress passed the Lindsey Graham Sanctions on Russia and Iran Act, which seeks to penalise countries importing oil from those nations. India, which last month imported more than 51% of its oil from Russia, is a principal target of the law, and U.S. President Donald Trump has been mandated to impose tariffs of up to 100% on it. Jaishankar's meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week will thus be particularly significant, as both sides prepare for possible Modi-Trump bilaterals at the ASEAN Summit in the Philippines in November and the G20 Summit in the U.S. in December.

Another closely watched engagement will be with Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman, who begins his tenure as president of the General Assembly this session. Besides the UNGA agenda and plans to intensify UN reforms that India has been pushing, the two are expected to discuss bilateral ties, which have been strained after a proposed visit by Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman failed to materialise.

While Jaishankar is expected to meet counterparts from other South Asian countries, the SAARC Foreign Ministers' meeting held annually on the UNGA sidelines until 2019 has been scrapped amid India-Pakistan tensions.

From Wednesday, much of the attention at the UNGA will shift to Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the U.S. from September 23-25 and the outcomes of the US-China Summit in Washington. A meeting of Quad foreign ministers from the U.S., India, Japan and Australia has also become a regular UNGA sidelines feature.