UN Like An Old Company, Occupying Space Without Adapting: Jaishankar

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Sunday stated that the United Nations (UN) is like an “old company” that is “occupying space in the market” without adapting to the changing global landscape.

Speaking at the Kautilya Economic Conclave, Jaishankar stressed that the UN has failed to keep pace with the world, forcing countries to find alternative ways to address pressing global challenges.

“Since this is an economic conclave, let me give you a businesslike answer. The UN, in a way, is like an old company, not entirely keeping up with the market but occupying the space. And, when it’s behind times in this world, you have startups and innovation. So, different people start doing their own things,” Jaishankar said.

He explained that while countries would prefer the UN to lead global initiatives when it fails to address key issues, they are left to create their own mechanisms. “There is a UN at the end of the day, however, suboptimal it is in functioning, it’s still the only multilateral game in town. But when it doesn’t step up on key issues, countries figure out their own ways of doing it,” Jaishankar added.

Reflecting on the UN’s role during the Covid-19 pandemic, EAM Jaishankar highlighted its limited contribution, stating, “Probably the biggest thing which happened in our life was Covid. Think about what the UN do on Covid, and I think the answer is not very much”.

He also addressed the UN’s inaction on major global conflicts, specifically the Russia-Ukraine war and the ongoing Middle East crisis. “Two very serious conflicts are going on in the world. Where is the UN on them? Essentially a bystander. So what is happening is that as you saw even during Covid, countries either did their own thing or you had an initiative like Covax, which was done by a group of countries,” Jaishankar remarked.

“When it comes to the big issues of the day, increasingly, you’ll find combinations of countries who come together and say, let’s agree on this and let’s go and do it,” he added. Jaishankar highlighted recent examples like the connectivity initiative involving India, Middle Eastern countries, European countries, and the US, as well as other alliances like the QUAD and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, which operate independently.

“The UN will continue, but increasingly there’s a non-UN space, which is the active space,” he concluded. India has long been batting for expansion of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in both permanent and non-permanent categories, as well as reform in its working methods.