As world leaders head to the UN General Assembly in New York this week, we confront a paradox. The global community is more interdependent than ever, even as it becomes more fragmented and polarized. Our economies are deeply intertwined. Technology links billions of people across borders, while capital, goods, data and ideas move at speeds that would have been unimaginable when the United Nations was founded in 1945. Global trade reached a record $35 trillion last year and six billion people -almost three-quarters of humanity- are connected to the internet. However, geopolitics is moving the other way. 2025 saw 65 state-based armed conflicts, the highest number recorded since 1946, while global military spending rose to a record $2.9 trillion. International law is under strain. The language of spheres of influence and power politics is back. Economic ties are increasingly used as instruments of pressure and coercion while inequality is on the rise, both within and among countries. Some may conclude, therefore, the multilateral system has failed. In part, that criticism is understandable. A multilateral system that fails to reflect the realities of today will not survive the test of time. But the need for multilateral cooperation is very much alive. The post war world is long gone, but the underlying logic that justified multilateral cooperation is more evident than ever. The climate emergency is going beyond even the most alarming predictions. Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than our capacity to control it. Pandemics can spread across continents in weeks, while financial shocks can disrupt markets in hours. Armed conflicts can destabilise entire regions and force millions to flee from their homes. Global maritime chokepoints, such as the Strait of Hormuz, constrained by conflicts, can paralyse supply chains around the world. No country, however powerful, can manage these challenges alone. Cooperation is not an act of idealism; it is a practical necessity. The question is not whether multilateralism can survive, but how it must evolve to meet the realities of our time. In this context, we are coming together with a new initiative: ‘Partners for Multilateralism’. P4M is not about creating another exclusive bloc or another international bureaucracy. Its purpose is the opposite: to create a flexible, open framework for countries from different regions and political traditions that are willing to work across divides, to build coalitions for reform and to translate shared principles into practical action. P4M will support the reform of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, to make them more representative, legitimate, effective and trusted. It aims to strengthen cooperation between regional organisations, contribute to peace and security, improve global economic governance and develop common approaches to emerging challenges, from artificial intelligence and climate change to health security and digital transformation. P4M will seek to renew and strengthen the multilateral system, not replace it; build bridges and bring together countries that may disagree on many issues but share a commitment to the basic principles enshrined in the UN Charter. Principles that are not negotiable, like sovereign equality, territorial integrity, the peaceful settlement of disputes, the prohibition of the threat or use of force, international humanitarian law, sustainable development, human rights and fundamental freedoms. UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, recently said that “superpowers are discovering their limits”. We believe that the international community must rediscover the extraordinary potential of collective action. Competition does not have to become confrontation, if we create channels of dialogue and cooperation. Sovereignty is strengthened, not diminished, when countries work together to address shared challenges. National interests are often best advanced through collective action on such challenges. The real choice is not between preserving the international order established after Second World War or abandoning it. It is between renewing multilateral cooperation in a changing world, or allowing fragmentation, polarisation and power politics to define the next era. As we contend with a world order that is transforming fast, we call on leaders from around the world to join us in the P4M initiative: choosing cooperation over fragmentation, law over power, and shared responsibility over division.
The President of the European Council, António Costa, together with the President of Kenya, William Ruto, the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, and the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, will convene the Partners for multilateralism, international law, peace and prosperity summit (P4M summit) on 21 September 2026 in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly High Level Week.
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