During the Brics Summit on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the need for reforms in global governance. He called for the Global South to have a more significant role in decision-making processes. Modi argued that the current ‘pyramid of privilege’ must be replaced with a ‘platform of partnership’ to address growing geopolitical fragmentation.
“Today, the Global South stands in the front row of global crises but in the back row of decision-making. He made the remarks at the opening session of the summit being held at a time when the global economy is grappling with the fallout of the conflicts in West Asia and Ukraine war, and the US administration’s trade and tariff policies. Among the Brics leaders attending the summit are Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, and the leaders of partner countries such as Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Modi proposed that Brics should finalise a 10-point roadmap for global governance reforms by the time of the bloc’s next summit.
With Brics emerging as a key bloc over the past two decades, Modi called for a “new and ambitious agenda” for the grouping for the next 20 years to address pressing global challenges. “The current structure of global governance resembles a pyramid: power and decision-making are concentrated at the top, while the lower tiers consist of nations that are affected by these decisions but unable to shape them,” he said. We must transform this ‘pyramid of privilege’ into a ‘platform of partnership’ – one where every nation has a voice, every member has a stake, and the development of humanity lies at the heart of every effort,” he said. “In formulating this roadmap, we must focus on three key aspects – representation, responsiveness and rule-making,” he said. In the context of representation, Modi said the reform of the UN Security Council cannot be postponed any longer and negotiations for this must be brought under a definite timeframe with clear outcomes. In his remarks at the concluding session of the first day of the summit, Modi said the discussions showed how a changing world cannot be steered by outdated institutions and reforms are essential in representation, responsiveness and rule-making.
