Overview
- Leaders from Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, India and Kenya issued a joint declaration launching Partners for Multilateralism (P4M) at an inaugural summit held on the margins of the UN General Assembly on 21 September 2026.
- The declaration directs senior officials to establish a coordination channel, identify priority areas for joint work and seek broader participation in a flexible, non‑bureaucratic network rather than creating a new permanent institution.
- P4M names climate action, artificial intelligence governance, global health security and supply‑chain resilience — including risks to fuel, food, fertiliser and finance — as initial practical priorities for coordinated projects and policy proposals.
- India co‑sponsored the summit and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar co‑chaired sessions to argue for 'reformed multilateralism' with clearer decision making, more participative deliberations and guardrails for emerging technologies.
- Organizers say the effort is meant to bolster the UN and push for institutional reform as a response to rising great‑power contestation, repeated Security Council deadlock and growing global crises that no single country can manage alone.