EAM S Jaishankar To Launch India’s Campaign For 2028-29 UN Security Council Seat During US Visit

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will launch India’s official campaign for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the 2028-29 term during his visit to the United States next week. He is also scheduled to hold talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York.

Jaishankar, who concluded a four-nation visit to Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman from July 5 to July 10, is expected to arrive in the US on Saturday. According to the UN's schedule of meetings, Guterres will meet Jaishankar at the UN headquarters on Monday afternoon. The External Affairs Minister will also formally launch India's UNSC campaign at a special event at the UN headquarters the same day.

A fresh diplomatic push

India’s campaign comes as elections for the 2028-29 term are set to be held in June next year. India and Tajikistan will contest the sole seat available under the Asia-Pacific Group category.

After his engagements in New York, Jaishankar will travel to Brussels to attend the third India-European Union Trade and Technology Council meeting. He will also hold discussions with his counterparts from the European Union and Belgium on July 14 and 15.

India last served as a non-permanent member of the Security Council during the 2021-22 term. This time, its campaign unfolds against the backdrop of major geopolitical developments, including the war in Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza and the US-Israel war against Iran, making the upcoming UNSC election particularly significant.

Reform remains India’s key message

As part of its campaign, India is highlighting the message, “#India4UNSC 2028-29 Peace, Planet, Progress.” Alongside seeking another term on the Council, New Delhi continues to press for long-pending reforms of the UN Security Council.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the Parliament of Indonesia this week, said the global order is changing rapidly and that developing countries like India are seeking equal participation and a greater role in global affairs. He said reforms in the UN Security Council can no longer be delayed.

India has consistently argued that the 15-member Security Council, created in 1945, no longer reflects present-day geopolitical realities and is not equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It has maintained that the Council should be expanded in both its permanent and non-permanent categories and has repeatedly asserted that it deserves a permanent seat, PTI reports.

New Delhi has also cautioned that expanding only the non-permanent category would fail to address the imbalance in decision-making, which remains concentrated among the Council’s five permanent members. It has further argued that the long-running reform process should not be stalled by the approach that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

Last month, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, said those favouring the status quo have used this argument to preserve existing inequities in the Security Council, slowing progress on reforms.