‘India will be the next superpower, must be in UNSC’: Finland’s President Stubb tells Firstpost | Interview

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost Managing Editor Palki Sharma, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb has said that India will be the world’s next superpower alongside the United States and China.

In the interview at the Finnish capital of Helsinki , Stubb also backed India’s bid for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and warned that the UN will continue to weaken without it.

“I am a great admirer of India, and I think India will be our next superpower, you know, right up there with the United States and with China. And, of course, in taking that security and political role, whether it’s, you know, Prime Minister Modi or whether it’s Foreign Minister Jaishankar, it’s a strategic thinking. What India is obviously doing right now is having a multi-vectoral foreign policy, which is fully understandable,” said Stubb.

Acknowledging India’s size, engagements, and potential, Stubb said that what India does matters to the world.

UN will continue to weaken without India, says Stubb

As for Finland’s vision for the world order, Stubb said he believes in multilateralism and India’s expanded role at forums like the UN is essential to it.

The UN will continue to weaken until India would not have real skin in the game with the permanent membership of the UNSC, said Stubb.

“I have said this in the General Assembly twice now. I want the UN Security Council to be expanded. Its membership should be at least doubled. It is wrong that countries like India are not in the UN Security Council. I have suggested that we should have at least one member from Latin America, two from Africa, and two from Asia. Why? Because I believe in multilateralism and because I think that if players like India don’t feel that they have agency or skin in the game in the United Nations, the institution is going to continue to weaken,” Stubb told Firstpost.