Macron received Carney on a French archipelago next to Canada and spoke of Canadian gas for Europe. The association with the European Union comes through the door of article 217, and the instrument is trade, energy and critical minerals.
Multi-alignment as statecraft, tested across three consecutive crises.
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Taalatbek Masadykov said the Collective Security Council may consider invoking Article 25 of the organization’s charter against Armenia if a corresponding agenda is approved. The article provides that, if a member state fails to fulfill its obligations to repay its debt to the organization’s budget within two years, the Council shall adopt a resolution on retaining the right to propose that state’s citizens for quota positions and on depriving it of voting rights in the organization’s bodies until full repayment.
Belarus is hosting the high-level international conference “Eurasian Security: Reality and Prospects in a Transforming World.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Minsk to take part in the meeting. The Belarusian state agency BelTA frames the meeting as a continuation of Minsk’s role as a platform for dialogue on security.
Russia ratified an agreement setting out the principles of its relations with Burkina Faso, by decree signed by Vladimir Putin, according to the state-run TASS news agency. The text provides for regular dialogue and exchanges of views at various levels on bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera told TASS in an interview that relations with Russia are based on the principle of full partnership in security, the economy, and personnel training.
The foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) announced plans to provide more than $85 million in technical and financial support to improve access to trusted artificial intelligence across the Indo-Pacific, according to the joint statement from the Atlanta meeting. The text also records a US commitment of $10 million to develop facilities in India and in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to recover critical minerals from waste, according to The Times of India. India’s external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, said the Quad must safeguard freedom of choice and secure supply chains and tackle non-market practices, without naming any country, and called for a “more contemporary” agenda for the group, with a practical approach.
G20 foreign ministers ended two days of talks in Atlanta without consensus on key issues, including Russia's war against Ukraine, and without a joint communiqué, according to the South China Morning Post. The group relied on a chairman's statement summarizing the discussions and listing priorities such as energy, food security and freedom of navigation, released by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the meetings closed. Rubio said he would not pretend that countries were close to universally accepted solutions to these problems, but that some governments are working together on supply chains and critical minerals.
Top diplomats from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) met in Atlanta on Saturday to finalize preparations for next month’s summit in the Philippines, the first in two years, according to the South China Morning Post. Without naming China, the ministers expressed “grave concerns” about overcapacity disrupting global supply chains in critical industries.
The Kremlin said that about 150 documents were signed at the Russia-Africa summit, according to the Sputnik news agency. According to AFP, in a text republished by BSS News, delegations from 48 African countries took part in the meeting, 22 of them represented by their leaders.
A think tank report says BRICS+ countries should press ahead with a joint cross-border payments mechanism to reduce reliance on the US dollar, Reuters reported on Friday. The same report says a shared currency would face major economic and institutional obstacles.
The third Russia–Africa Summit, in the Kremlin, adopted the Declaration of the 3rd Russia–Africa Summit, the declaration on cooperation in the civilian application of artificial intelligence technologies and the partnership forum action plan for 2027–2029, according to the Kremlin. The joint declaration provides for energy sovereignty and security, reform of the United Nations (UN) Security Council to reflect current geopolitical realities and wider use of national currencies in mutual payments, according to Sputnik Africa.
Turkey is hosting a summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Ankara on Thursday and Friday under the theme “Turkic Century: Unity in Language, Thought and Deed,” with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as host, according to TRT World. The heads of state are expected to adopt the Ankara Declaration along with decisions and documents aimed at deepening cooperation and strengthening the bloc's institutional framework.
Parliamentary leaders from the BRICS nations expressed “deep concern” about the escalating tension and hostilities in West Asia and slammed the “unilateral coercive measures” and “unilateral economic sanctions” imposed in the region as contrary to international law, according to The Hindu. The joint declaration called for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and asserted the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, freedom and an independent, sovereign state.
The third Russia-Africa Summit will take place in Moscow on October 28-29, chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin and AU chair Évariste Ndayishimiye, president of Burundi, according to the Kremlin. Representatives of almost 50 African countries will take part, including heads of state and government and leaders of the continent’s integration associations, the Kremlin said. Russia’s foreign ministry says the summit will lead to major decisions and outcomes, according to Sputnik.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian proposed a new “Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) + Iran” format in his first appearance as a special guest at the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in Turkmenistan, pitching Iran as Central Asia's natural route to open waters. Pezeshkian said Iran's southern ports, notably Chabahar, could link the region to South Asia, Africa and Europe. According to Mehr News Agency, Pezeshkian said regional diplomacy should not be limited merely to holding meetings and must serve as a genuine tool for crisis management, dialogue, preventing escalation and practical cooperation.
Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said Brazil will not leave BRICS after the elections, because the association benefits all its members and its leadership should understand this, according to TASS.
For the first time, Latin America considers China's influence in the region more positive than that of the United States, according to the Latinobarómetro 2026 survey released this Friday (2), in a report by G1. Positive assessment of Chinese influence rose from 48% in 2020 to 65% this year, while positive assessment of US influence fell from 60% to 57% over the same period.
China’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Fu Cong, delivered a joint statement on behalf of 28 member states on Thursday at the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, according to CGTN. The statement says unilateral coercive measures are a major source of international turbulence and disorder and that developing countries and their peoples continue to bear the brunt, according to Xinhua.
Russia’s ambassador to India, Denis Alipov, said Russia is ready to supply India with as much oil as the country needs, according to TASS. Alipov said the United States will seek to contain India as the country grows stronger and emerges as a global power. According to him, BRICS countries support the use of national currencies as an alternative to the US dollar, without opposing the American currency.
The 81st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly opens its general debate on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, in New York, under the theme “Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all”, with Secretary-General António Guterres presenting the organisation’s annual report alongside the Assembly’s president, Bangladesh’s Khalilur Rahman, according to the UN and La Voce di New York. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks first, followed by Donald Trump, in the order that gives Brazil the opening slot; Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, who addresses the hall on Wednesday, September 23, are among the most awaited. According to G1, Guterres will make an appeal for the UN’s own survival, as the organisation faces funding cuts and criticism led by Trump, and Lula is expected to defend multilateralism and national sovereignty. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will speak by video after the United States denied him a visa, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cut his New York trip down to the day of his speech, on Thursday, September 24, according to La Voce di New York.
Seven countries and the European Union (EU) launched the inaugural summit of “Partners for Multilateralism” (P4M) in New York on Monday, September 21, a group presenting itself as a defender of a UN-based international order and one removed from superpower politics. The joint declaration “A joint commitment to multilateralism, international law, peace and prosperity” lists Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, the EU, India and Kenya as initial co-sponsors, according to the office of Canada’s prime minister, and was co-hosted by European Council President António Costa, prime ministers William Ruto of Kenya, Anthony Albanese of Australia, Mia Mottley of Barbados and Mark Carney of Canada, and foreign ministers Mauro Vieira of Brazil and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of India, according to UN WebTV. The text says economic interdependence “is increasingly used as a source of leverage”, cites the triple planetary crisis and the rapid development of artificial intelligence among the challenges requiring cooperation, and backs reform of multilateral institutions, including through the UN80 process. In his opening remarks, Jaishankar said the “four F crisis” — fuel, food, fertiliser and finance — “cannot be left to itself”, according to Times Now. In a joint editorial in the Financial Times, Costa, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Ruto and Carney wrote that P4M will not be another exclusive bloc or an international bureaucracy, and cited 2025’s record number of state-based armed conflicts since 1946, in 35 countries, according to The Hindu.
On the eve of his final address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Secretary-General António Guterres told Al Jazeera the state of the world ‘is getting worse’, with the Security Council paralysed by geopolitical divisions and an ‘environment of impunity’ in which middle powers believe they can do whatever they want. He cited the combined effect of the war in Ukraine on food, fertiliser and energy exports through the Black Sea, alongside the difficulties in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb and attacks on oil installations in the region, as devastating for developing economies. Guterres, who leaves office on 31 December, said the Security Council ‘still essentially represents the world of World War II’ and called for reform. According to TASS, more than 70 world leaders and 45 heads of state are attending the high-level week; NPR notes this is Guterres’s last General Assembly as secretary-general.
France and Canada strengthened ties in response to Trump’s provocations, according to Le Monde, and a Canadian minister told the BBC that the UK should “team up” with Canada in a new European alliance.
Brazil, the European Union, Canada and Kenya launched a manifesto for multilateralism on the eve of the UN General Assembly, according to G1; AP notes the opening week brings leaders together with war, unregulated AI and climate shocks on the agenda.