New Delhi — UN Secretary‑General told leaders gathered at the BRICS summit on 13 September 2026 that the architecture of global governance created after World War II no longer matches current economic, demographic and geopolitical realities and must be reformed.
Speaking at the summit hosted by India, which included heads of state and leaders of the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization, Guterres said the rise of major developing economies requires institutions such as the UN Security Council and the Bretton Woods system to be updated so they reflect today’s balance of power.
He set out four priorities for what he called inclusive global growth: scaling up international finance for development, widening access to technology, delivering climate justice, and investing in peace. On finance, he urged a substantial increase in support for developing countries and called for multilateral development banks to be expanded and given greater capacity and ambition.
On technology, Guterres warned that the benefits of artificial intelligence remain concentrated in a small number of firms and countries, and that without action the AI divide could deepen inequalities across income, opportunity, security and sovereignty.
His strongest warnings concerned climate risks: he said extreme heat, glacier loss, wildfires and floods foreshadow worse impacts, and cautioned that a strong El Niño could exacerbate the crisis as the world nears the 1.5°C threshold above pre‑industrial levels. He pressed wealthy countries to meet existing commitments, including a pledge of $300 billion a year, a trebling of adaptation finance and increased funding for loss and damage, and criticised the exploitation of critical minerals.
On peace and security, Guterres highlighted ongoing crises in Gaza, the wider Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan and urged states to respect the UN Charter, including sovereign equality, territorial integrity and the peaceful settlement of disputes. He framed institutional reform as a collective task, saying that as global power becomes more diffuse, countries should work together to preserve an effective multilateral system with the United Nations at its centre.
World
António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
Named 5 times in this story.
Portrait: European Commission (Christophe Licoppe) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
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