As ‘world architecture’ changes, Jaishankar calls for middle powers to pool resources

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has called on emerging and middle powers to deepen cooperation across diplomacy, trade, technology, healthcare, defence and connectivity, arguing that a changing global order creates a wider role for countries beyond the major powers in shaping international affairs.

Addressing the opening session of the Munich Leaders Meeting 2026 in New Delhi, Jaishankar said countries that do not have the weight of superpowers could nevertheless exercise greater collective influence by coordinating resources and backing one another on issues ranging from conflicts and supply chains to advanced manufacturing and climate action.

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"There is today a substantial agenda for emerging and middle powers to cooperate," he said. "The world is changing, its agenda is changing, the landscape is changing, the architecture is changing."

Jaishankar said the emerging and middle powers should look beyond traditional approaches to international cooperation and identify areas where collective action could produce greater leverage.

"What could be the agenda for emerging and middle powers? I would share my thoughts in terms of a few ideas," Dr. Jaishankar said. "One would be international peace and security: if there are conflicts, frictions, tensions, other than the biggest countries, can other nations pool their resources, back each other's diplomacy up, try to do something out there."

He said such cooperation could extend to economic arrangements, citing India’s engagement with the European Union as an example of countries building sustained economic alignment.

"A good example is what happened this year between India and the European Union, where we had almost 25 years of negotiation. But there are, in different domains, I would argue, enough causes for middle and emerging and middle countries to come together," he said.

From supply chains to advanced technology

Jaishankar also identified supply-chain resilience and advanced manufacturing as areas where middle and emerging powers could build strategic capabilities without necessarily being the world’s largest economies.

He argued that technological influence was not limited to the biggest countries, with specialised capabilities allowing smaller and middle powers to play outsized roles in critical industries.

"Supply chain resilience is one... You don't have to be the biggest country in the world to dominate the world of chips or to even dominate machine production," he said.

Healthcare was another area where Jaishankar called for greater diversification, particularly in the production of pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. He also linked health security with the movement of skilled workers between countries with differing demographic and labour needs.

"You can have an area like health. Today, health security warrants a much more diversified production of APIs and pharmaceuticals. The reality of the world is that where there is demand is not where there are demographics. And how do you level that out? That is best done through a flow of talent and skills. And you can see, even in the field of advanced manufacturing today."

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Connectivity, defence and space join cooperation agenda

Jaishankar said the scope for cooperation among emerging and middle powers also extended to connectivity, climate action, defence and space, as changes in technology and global conditions were altering established systems.

"Connectivity is an important agenda for emerging and middle powers. So, indeed, is climate action and sustainability... the circumstances have made it even more urgent," he observed. "In a field like defence, because the old producers and consumers, the old systems, the orthodoxies are changing. A smarter defence comes into being... Space is again an area which has seen some dramatic transformations."

His remarks placed the role of middle powers within a broader shift in global governance, with cooperation among them emerging as a potential way to build influence across strategic, economic and technological domains.

(With inputs from ANI)