A few days before the start of the UN General Assembly, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a joint manifesto with the president of the European Council, António Costa, the president of Kenya, William Ruto, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, in defense of multilateralism and reform of international institutions.
The text, published this Sunday, the 20th, by the Financial Times, states that the world lives with a “paradox,” as it is more interdependent than ever, but also more fragmented and polarized.
The leaders cite that global trade reached US$ 35 trillion last year and that 6 billion people – almost three quarters of humanity – are connected to the internet, while geopolitics is moving in the opposite direction.
According to the manifesto, 2025 registered 65 armed conflicts between states in 35 countries, the highest number since 1946, and global military spending rose to US$ 2.9 trillion, in a scenario in which “international law is under pressure” and the “language of spheres of influence and power politics” has regained space.
The text also mentions increasing inequality and the use of economic ties as instruments of pressure and coercion.
In the document, the signatories defend that multilateral cooperation remains a necessity in the face of challenges such as the climate emergency, the accelerating advance of artificial intelligence (AI), risks of new pandemics, financial shocks and wars capable of destabilizing regions and causing mass displacement. The piece also cites global maritime bottlenecks, such as the Strait of Hormuz, which can paralyze supply chains worldwide.
In response, Lula, Costa, Ruto and Carney announced an initiative called “Partners for Multilateralism” (P4M, in the English acronym). According to the manifesto, the proposal does not intend to create “another exclusive bloc” nor “another international bureaucracy,” but to establish a flexible and open framework for countries from different regions to work together.
The group states that the P4M will support reforms at the UN and at other multilateral institutions to make them more “representative, legitimate, effective and trustworthy.” “As we deal with a world order that is rapidly transforming, we call on other international leaders to join us in choosing cooperation over fragmentation, law over power and shared responsibility over division,” they concluded.
