S Jaishankar to launch India’s bid for UN Security Council tenure 2028

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is all set to launch India's campaign for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for the 2028-29 term next week. He will also meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the world body's headquarters during his visit. Jaishankar, who was on an official visit to Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman from July 5-10, 2026, will "visit New York to launch, on 13 July 2026, India’s official campaign for the UN Security Council tenure 2028-29," the Ministry of External Affairs said earlier. He is expected to arrive in the US on Saturday, and will formally launch India's UNSC campaign for the 2028-29 tenure at a special event at UN headquarters on Monday. Jaishankar will then travel to Brussels to attend the third India-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting and hold talks with his EU and Belgian counterparts on July 14-15. According to a schedule of meetings released by the UN, Guterres will also meet Jaishankar at UN headquarters Monday afternoon, news agency PTI reported. India last held seat on Council in 2021-22 India has served on the Security Council as an elected member on eight occasions so far — in 1950-51, 1967-68, 1972-73, 1977-78, 1984-85, 1991-92, 2011-2012 and 2021-22. India's election to the Security Council during the last instance in October 2010 with 187 votes was the highest number obtained in recent years. India had assumed the Presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of December in 2022. This was the second time in its two-year tenure as an elected member of the UN Security Council [2021-2022] that India had assumed the Presidency of the Council, as it earlier did in August 2021. The elections for the 2028-29 term will be held in June next year, when India and Tajikistan will contest for the sole seat available in the Asia-Pacific Group category, news agency PTI reported. The elections will take place amid significant geopolitical shifts, with the world continuing to grapple with the Ukraine war, the Gaza conflict and the US-Israel war against Iran, the report noted. For its candidature, India has adopted the message “#India4UNSC 2028-29 Peace, Planet, Progress." PM Modi reiterates push for UNSC reform While addressing the Indonesian Parliament this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the global order was changing rapidly, and that developing countries like ours were seeking equal participation and a greater role in global affairs, adding that reforms to the UN Security Council “could no longer be delayed." India has long pushed for reform of the Security Council, including expansion of both its permanent and non-permanent categories, arguing that the 15-nation Council, founded in 1945, is no longer fit for purpose in the 21st century and does not reflect current geopolitical realities.