In a subtle dig at China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said there must be no room for coercion, and, in a push for plurilateralism, stressed that the global agenda cannot be narrowed down to the interests of a few.

Speaking at the first G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Johannesburg, Jaishankar said that the member nations must also recognise that multilateralism itself lies deeply damaged and that the UN and its Security Council are often grid-locked.

During the foreign ministers’ meeting, held in the runup to the G20 Summit to be held in Johannesburg on November 22-23 this year, Jaishankar firmly stated that international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982, must be respected.

“Agreements entered into must be observed and there must be no room for coercion,” Jaishankar stressed.

“Just getting the UNSC back to work is not enough; its working methods and representation must change. More plurilateralism is required to plug global deficits.