External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar urged developing countries to coordinate on energy, food supplies, shipping and artificial intelligence at a ministerial meeting in New York on September 22, 2026. He chaired the gathering of like-minded Global South countries and friends during the United Nations General Assembly's high-level week, arguing that countries bearing major crises remained underrepresented in decisions.
His opening proposals included protecting grain and fertiliser supplies, resisting politically manipulated energy availability and prices, and securing commercial shipping and seafarers under international law. He also called for trade arrangements that support production and industrialisation. For AI, he proposed sharing domestically developed tools and frameworks; for climate action, he pointed to the International Solar Alliance and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
The Indian readout said participants discussed conflict-related food and energy risks, unstable trade and investment flows, extreme weather and delayed Sustainable Development Goals. They called for comprehensive reform of multilateral institutions, particularly the UN, and agreed to expand South-South cooperation. Their discussion also covered coordinating positions in international forums and keeping the use of AI centred on people.
Nepal's Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal addressed the same meeting, according to his country's permanent mission to the UN. He called for solidarity, collective action and more representative global governance. The mission's account separately recorded a bilateral meeting with Jaishankar, where Khanal thanked India for immediate assistance after Nepal's catastrophic floods and the ministers discussed further development cooperation.
The Nepalese delegation also pursued related development issues elsewhere that day. Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai called for climate-resilient development and closing finance and technology gaps at a discussion on ending poverty beyond 2030. In a separate meeting with the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries, he discussed connectivity, aviation, critical minerals and implementation of the Awaza Programme of Action.
