appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Biman Mukherji

India has joined a new multilateral grouping comprising a cross-regional mix of middle powers, in a move analysts say reflects New Delhi’s efforts to broaden its diplomatic options as it pushes for changes to the global order.
External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar co-chaired the inaugural Partners for Multilateralism (P4M) Summit on Monday, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“We meet at a time when the global order is under stress,” Jaishankar said at the summit.
“For some decades, the world has witnessed a steady rebalancing, which was a long-expected structural evolution. However, extreme competition, geopolitical tensions and actual conflicts have given this an entirely different character.”
India was among the initial co-sponsors of the P4M initiative alongside Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, the European Union and Kenya, giving Delhi a direct role in shaping the forum’s future direction.
P4M’s founding members say the initiative intends to “build coalitions across divides” amid rising geopolitical polarisation and growing pressure on the multilateral system. The group has pledged to work together on UN reform, supply chain resilience, trade, finance, emerging technologies and climate change.

“India can use it to build issue-based coalitions without being locked into either Western or non-Western blocs,” said Swaran Singh, a former professor of diplomacy and disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of International Studies in Delhi.
Singh highlighted that P4M’s founding declaration committed members to reforming, rather than replacing, the existing multilateral order.
“For middle powers like India, strategic autonomy increasingly depends upon having multiple overlapping networks rather than having to choose between competing blocs,” he said.
The cross-regional composition of P4M was especially significant because it connected European, Asian, African, Latin American and Pacific actors without defining membership through alignment against either Washington or Beijing, Singh added.
“That creates diplomatic space for countries like India that are seeking to diversify partnerships while avoiding bloc politics,” he said, adding that the forum’s utility would depend on its actions rather than its declarations.
In his address, Jaishankar referred to several issues that needed to be addressed, including climate action, emerging technologies, development finance, counterterrorism and supply chain resilience.
The inaugural P4M summit comes as the 15-nation UN Security Council remains deeply divided, with sharp divisions among its five permanent, veto-wielding members – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – complicating efforts to maintain international peace and security.
India has consistently pushed for multilateral reform, particularly within the Security Council, to give the Global South greater representation.

“P4M aligns with all that India has been championing, including multilateral reform, so its participation comes as no surprise,” said Farwa Aamer, director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York. “While it has other platforms, this gives Delhi further international leverage, especially given its ambition to be the voice of the Global South.”
For the new grouping to produce tangible results, Aamer said there “has to be an early win and sustained commitment, whether on climate or UN reforms”.
“That would be the litmus test for the grouping’s viability for Asian players,” she said.
Uday Chandra, a professor of political science at India’s Ashoka University, said middle powers were increasingly becoming caught in the crossfire of great-power rivalries, “but neither wish nor need to choose the same side on every issue”.
“What they prefer are supple coalitions that can recombine issue-by-issue on trade, supply chains, climate change, AI governance or the reform of international institutions,” he said.
‘Dense network’
India had been building a “dense network” of bilateral relationships, Chandra said, pointing to recent efforts to deepen ties with Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand.
“Anticipating more supply chain shocks in the coming years, these diverse relationships reduce dependence on any single economic corridor or major pole in a multipolar world,” he said, adding that trade, technology and market access were becoming more important.
P4M would serve as “another instrument of strategic autonomy for India and other middle powers as they seek to navigate a polycentric world between the US and China”, Chandra added.
Singh said India’s partnerships were increasingly connecting the Indian Ocean with Southeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific.
“India will need to convert diplomatic activism into institutional and material delivery,” he said. “That means becoming a reliable provider of public goods.”
India’s standing among other P4M members would depend on practical cooperation, Singh added.
“India’s credibility among middle powers will ultimately depend less on the number of partnerships it announces or joins than on whether partners see India as a predictable, useful and non-hegemonic coalition-builder.”


India’s new P4M middle-power group enters a crowded field

Gulf tech firms turn to Hong Kong and Singapore as Iran war grinds on

Canada seeks to wrap up India trade talks soon, as US ties fray

Bukhara Biennial spearheads cultural blossoming of the city as well as the wider Uzbekistan

India

India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar speaking at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, in September 2025. Photo: EPA

Leaders attend the Partners for Multilateralism (P4M) Summit ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York, on Monday. Photo: EPA

The United Nations Security Council holds an emergency meeting on the Ukraine-Russia war in June. Photo: AFP 

India and Vietnam aim to turn ‘China plus one’ rivalry into trade gains

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung in New Delhi during the Brics summit on Saturday. Photo: Handout via Reuters

Workers assemble electric vehicles at a VinFast factory in Hai Phong, Vietnam, in September 2023. Photo: AP

Cargo operations at Hai Phong port in Vietnam in April 2025. Photo: Reuters

Workers at a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Dholka, India, in April 2025. Photo: Reuters

India and Russia push to expand defence ties with more joint production

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Brics summit in New Delhi on Saturday. Photo: Kremlin/dpa 

Indian personnel stand by Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets at a military airbase during joint drills held in France last year. Photo: AFP

BrahMos cruise missiles on display at a defence expo in Russia earlier this year. Photo: EPA

India scores Brics win with joint declaration despite divides

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the Brics summit in New Delhi on Sunday. Photo: Indian Press Information Bureau/AFP

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (left), India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (centre) and China’s President Xi Jinping (right) attend the Brics summit in New Delhi on Sunday. Photo: Indian Press Information Bureau/AFP

Modi (right) speaks with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (centre) and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr during the Brics summit in New Delhi on Sunday. Photo: Indian Press Information Bureau/AFP 

Delegates attend a session on the second day of the 18th Brics summit in New Delhi on Sunday. Photo: Government of India/dpa 

India targets weapons self-reliance with fully local assault rifle

An Indian Army soldier inspects a new AK-203 Sher rifle. Photo: Handout

A boy holds an INSAS assault rifle during a programme organised by Assam Rifles in Agartala, India, on October 27, 2016. Photo: Reuters

Indian Army soldiers show off the latest weapons in Kargil, Ladakh, on July 26, 2025. Photo: Getty Images

The AK-203 is designed as an advanced version of Russia’s powerful Kalashnikov. Photo: Indian Ministry of Defence

This Week in Asia

Politics

News

Asia

South Asia

Without early wins on climate or UN reform, analysts say the Partners for Multilateralism risks becoming a talking shop


Without early wins on climate or UN reform, analysts say the Partners for Multilateralism risks becoming a talking shop.


India’s new P4M middle-power group enters a crowded field

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Without early wins on climate or UN reform, analysts say the Partners for Multilateralism risks becoming a talking shop

Without early wins on climate or UN reform, analysts say the Partners for Multilateralism risks becoming a talking shop