Move to revive IBSA to push for UNSC seat

Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 27

India is an enthusiastic participant in the summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) but as its push for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council  does not get traction at these two forums, there is a concerted attempt to revive the IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) after an eight-year gap.

Two back-to-back summits are usually not the norm in international diplomacy. But the eleventh BRICS summit in Brazil may well see the IBSA summit a day earlier if all the pieces fall in place. The last IBSA summit was held in 2011 and all associated activities had petered out by 2013.

It was then felt that the IBSA had become redundant after South Africa joined BRIC as its fifth member. The move to revive the IBSA began last year in Pretoria with a meeting of Foreign Ministers. The momentum was maintained with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivering the Gandhi-Mandela lecture followed by a meeting of the BRICS sherpas (designated officials from the respective foreign offices) in Kochi last month.

The rub with both the BRICS and the SCO is the dominating presence of Russia and China. Being permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), they have little interest in pushing for its expansion. On the other hand, India, Brazil and South Africa are all aspirants for a restructured UNSC, for which they do not get the expected support from Russia and China at both BRICS and SCO.

“Last year, the heads of government of the IBSA countries attending the BRICS summit in Johannesburg felt that despite 10 years of its existence, it does not fully address our aspirations with respect to multilateralism and UNSC expansion. The push for reviving IBSA has started,” said official sources.

At the Johannesburg BRICS summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set the ball rolling at a restricted meeting of the five leaders. 

The Prime Minister had observed that in the 10th year of inception, the BRICS had deviated from the objective of promoting multilateralism in world affairs. Modi was backed by South African President who pointed out that reform was important, especially in the United Nations Security Council.

Immediate focus on non-permanent seat 

• India’s immediate interest is getting elected to the non-permanent seat of the United Nations Security Council in 2021-22
• But IBSA will be the vehicle to promote India’s ambition for acquiring a permanent seat in the UNSC
• In concert with G-77 countries, IBSA can be a useful pressure point to goad international bodies, including of UN, to become more active in rise of emerging economies 
• The backseat taken by UN bodies, it is believed, has led to China-dominated institutions filling the vacuum