Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle has questioned whether the changing global order is pushing countries away from traditional multilateral institutions towards smaller, more flexible partnerships among like-minded nations.
Wagle raised the issue during a panel discussion titled “The Geopolitics of Sovereign Choice” at the NDTV World Summit 2026 on Thursday. Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was the principal speaker.
Wagle said the international system was becoming increasingly fragmented as major powers showed less support for multilateralism, competing trade blocs emerged and countries placed greater emphasis on their own interests.
He asked whether bilateral, trilateral and subregional arrangements should be given more formal institutional structures, particularly in areas such as disaster response, nutrition, energy and clean energy.
“Are we moving towards the other end of the pendulum?” Wagle asked, questioning whether multilateralism was giving way to regional groupings and whether an emerging multipolar order required a corresponding system of global governance.
Drawing on Nepal’s experience, Wagle also acknowledged India’s assistance after major disasters, including the 2015 earthquake and a recent disaster in the Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi area linked to climate change.
“As a minister from Nepal, I can personally attest to the extraordinary assistance we have received from India,” Wagle said. He added that India had provided assistance within the first few hours after both disasters and that Nepal was deeply grateful for its support.
Wagle said multilateralism had been widely regarded as the preferred framework for international cooperation after the Cold War, particularly in trade and economics. Regional arrangements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) had been viewed as steps towards a broader multilateral system.
But weakening support from major powers and the emergence of competing trade blocs had raised questions about the future of international cooperation, he said.
Responding to Wagle, Jaishankar said countries were increasingly reluctant to enter into formal commitments. Negotiations could consume so much time and energy that the original objectives of cooperation were sidelined, he said.
Discussions often became bogged down in questions over funding, operational arrangements and rules, while many existing international groupings were themselves struggling, Jaishankar said.
“Formalisation is good where it is feasible, as in the case of the International Solar Alliance,” he said. In many other cases, however, cooperation could advance more effectively without elaborate institutional structures.
Jaishankar cited BRICS as an example of a grouping that operates without a secretariat or a written charter signed by all its members. He contrasted it with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, arguing that the appropriate institutional structure depended on the issue, the partners involved and their willingness to commit.
On the broader direction of international cooperation, Jaishankar said the trend was clearly towards more ad hoc arrangements and partnerships among like-minded countries.
India had established nearly 50 such groupings over the preceding decade, he said, including trilateral, quadrilateral and other partnerships spanning different sectors.
Countries increasingly wanted cooperation mechanisms that imposed less administrative burden while delivering tangible results, rather than cumbersome institutional frameworks, Jaishankar said.