'Sub-optimal': Jaishankar says UN is like 'old company' occupying space

"The UN is like an old company, not entirely keeping up with the market but occupying the space," noted Jaishankar.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Sunday, criticised the United Nations, calling it an "old company" that struggles to adapt to contemporary challenges while still occupying a significant position in global affairs.

"The UN is like an old company, not entirely keeping up with the market but occupying the space," he noted, speaking at the Kautalya Economic Conclave on Sunday.

He remarked that while the UN exists - despite being sub-optimal - its failure to address key issues effectively leads countries to seek alternative solutions. "There is a UN, howsoever sub-optimal, but when it doesn't step up on key issues, countries figure out own way of doing things," said the EAM. The minister also outlined the non-action of the UN during the Covid-19 outbreak. "The UN didn't do a lot on Covid. You have two very serious conflicts going on, and the UN is a bystander," said Jaishankar. "Increasingly there is a non-UN space," further remarked the EAM.

Turning to the complexities of the Middle East, Jaishankar remarked on the difficulty of addressing the region's challenges, particularly due to the presence of parties that refuse to acknowledge their roles in ongoing conflicts.
He highlighted the constrained capacity in global politics, underscoring that some pressing issues are overshadowing others, stating, "There is limited bandwidth in global politics with some of the issues sucking up much of the oxygen."

The EAM described the Middle East as particularly complex, pointing out, "Middle East is more complex, there are parties which do not acknowledge on what they are doing". He further highlighted that the Global South is feeling the impacts of these geopolitical tensions more acutely than others, raising concerns about the region's stability.

As the anniversary of the Israel conflict approaches, he remarked, "Tomorrow is exactly a year on Israel.....The IMEC is not dead, but the kind of response that we expected didn’t happen."

He also cautioned that the conflicts of the past year have revealed that risks are much higher than previously anticipated. "The conflict of last year has shown that risks are much higher than we thought... the multiplicity of risks because of proliferation of various technologies and climate change, the case has become stronger rather than weaker", noted the EAM.

Jaishankar described Quad as "broad-based" with an "open architecture" that sets it apart from traditional international alliances. "No piece of paper that anyone has signed," he explained, emphasizing Quad's flexibility and unconventional approach to cooperation. "What Quad has done is partly because multilateral has failed, and plurilateral has come," he noted, adding that the grouping has become a pivotal mechanism in the Indo-Pacific region with growing interest from various countries.

Regarding the BRICS bloc, Jaishankar underscored the importance of further expansion. He stated, "We need to see how to take the expansion further in the upcoming BRICS meeting," suggesting that interest in BRICS reflects a desire for diverse global alliances. "The global order is getting overhauled," he remarked, pointing out that the longstanding exclusive relationships forged in the 1940s are now evolving.