The 18th BRICS Summit is set to begin today at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. Eleven major emerging and developing economies will convene for a two-day grand event. They are Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, India, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE.
Leaders of the BRICS member countries will discuss key issues including global governance, multilateralism, trade and investment, technology, food and energy security, healthcare, disaster resilience and critical supply chains at the high-level event. The theme of this year’s Summit is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”. The Summit is being held under India’s 2026 BRICS chairship.
The high-profile Summit will see the participation of several key world leaders. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will join Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Summit will be attended by Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheik Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Brazil’s minister of foreign affairs Mauro Vieira will represent the country and Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud will also attend.
The Summit will kick off with a closed session for BRICS member countries on “Inclusive Global Governance and Strengthening Multilateralism. BRICS member countries leaders will visit the Bharat Innovates exhibition at Bharat Mandapam. This will be followed by a joint tree-planting ceremony and gala dinner hosted by Prime Minister Modi.
On the margins of the Summit today, the Prime Minister will hold a series of bilateral meetings with the BRICS leaders. Among the visitors are meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheik Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung.
The BRICS 2026 is taking center stage in New Delhi, with world leaders converging at a time of global churn and instability. The Leaders meet with the backdrop of conflicts in West Asia and the Black Sea region, an energy crisis and climate change. BRICS has become an important forum for the coordination of economic policy among the major emerging market economies. This is the main forum through which these countries develop a common position on global governance. Sustained dialog has made it a channel for promoting the interests of the Global South in multilateral institutions. Its agenda covers development, finance, technology, trade and people-to-people exchanges.
The group’s membership reflects the growing economic clout and ambitions of emerging economies across the world. India’s Chairship is guided by the theme of “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”. Development, sustainability and innovation are central to the theme of the agenda. It also reflects the aspirations of the Global South.
