Days after the New Delhi Declaration was adopted with consensus at the BRICS Summit, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said it is "reassuring" that "important powers" in the world believe that global crises can be addressed by multilateralism.
Secretary General Guterres made these remarks on Wednesday at a press conference.
"what is important is to say that the common declaration that was produced is a common declaration with a strong commitment of all of them to multilateralism and by all of them to the United Nations," Guterres said.
"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 of those efforts," he said.
Guterres was responding to a question by PTI on the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration at the BRICS Summit under India's chairship of the grouping.
In a significant diplomatic breakthrough for India, the BRICS grouping adopted the joint declaration by consensus on September 12, overcoming sharp divisions between Iran and the UAE over the West Asia conflict after a series of back-channel negotiations.
Guterres was asked how he views this bridging of differences and consensus against the backdrop of a deeply divided and polarised UN Security Council, which has not been able to bring countries together on major geopolitical crises facing the world.
Guterres also noted that not all Security Council members were present at the BRICS meeting.
Guterres had attended the BRICS Summit hosted in New Delhi on September 12-13 and addressed the summit's Open Session on 'Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth'.
He had also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Guterres, whose second five-year tenure as head of the United Nations ends in December 2026, had travelled to India in February this year to attend the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi.