New Delhi: In a strategic balancing act triggered by escalating global trade tensions, India is leveraging the two-day BRICS summit starting Saturday, September 11, to position the grouping as a complementary engine for economic growth while championing the Global South’s core developmental priorities — most notably safeguarding food, energy, and supply chain security.
With New Delhi putting the finishing touches on the summit, China has confirmed President Xi Jinping’s attendance, marking his first trip to India after a seven-year gap.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto are among the top leaders attending the crucial meet in the national capital.
We did not get a proper invitation: Bangladesh will not attend
However, Bangladesh has ruled out the possibility of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s visit, saying he was not invited to the BRICS Summit and the invitation was instead extended to the BIMSTEC Chair.
Speaking to reporters, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir claimed that the Bangladesh Premier was not properly invited to the BRICS Summit. He added that the invitation was extended to Rahman not as a prime minister but as the chairman of the seven-nation South and East Asian BIMSTEC.
“How shall we go? Has anyone from the Bangladesh government been invited? Our prime minister was not invited. Who told you that our prime minister was invited?” Kobir posed a volley of questions when asked whether Rahman would join the summit.
About BRICS
India is steering the BRICS grouping as a vital complementary platform to champion the Global South’s core developmental priorities, top Indian officials said on Thursday.
As global trade disputes and geopolitical realignments create economic headwinds, we are looking at addressing critical vulnerabilities in food security, energy stability, and resilient supply chains, they said.
The summit in New Delhi is taking place against the backdrop of a global economy facing the adverse impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war, the West Asia crisis, especially the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration’s trade and tariff policies.
With just two days left before the summit, it remains unclear whether the member nations of the grouping reached consensus on a joint statement, as differences between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the West Asia crisis persist. The grouping operates under a framework of consensus.
BRICS, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with Indonesia joining in 2025.
Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam became BRICS partner countries last year.
BRICS has emerged as an influential grouping as it brings together 11 major emerging economies of the world, representing around 49.5 per cent of the global population, around 40 per cent of the global GDP and around 26 per cent of the global trade.
Resilience, innovation and sustainability this year’s theme: MEA
India’s chairship of the grouping centred on the four pillars: resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability.
Under the resilience pillar, India has been focusing on strengthening collective cooperation in areas such as health, agriculture, food, energy, disaster risk reduction and supply chains, officials said.
Enhancing cooperation in trade, investment, connectivity and high technology will also be high on the agenda of the summit, they said.
India’s BRICS chairship is guided by the theme: ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’, reflecting its vision of a people-centric approach rooted in the spirit of “humanity first”.
In addition to these areas, the leaders will exchange views on strengthening intra-BRICS cooperation on common priorities and share perspectives on global and regional matters of mutual importance, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Under India’s chairship this year, over 350 meetings and high-level engagements have been held in over 25 cities across the country to further strengthen the BRICS strategic partnership across three fundamental pillars: political and security, economic and financial, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
India is a founding member of BRICS and has previously held its chairship in 2012, 2016 and 2021. India assumed its fourth BRICS chairship on January 1, 2026.
According to the MEA, the summit will begin at 2:35 pm on Saturday with a closed-door session for BRICS member countries themed ‘Inclusive Global Governance and Strengthening Multilateralism’.
Following the session, leaders will tour the ‘Bharat Innovates Exhibition’ scheduled to open at 4:25 pm. At 5:05 pm, the leaders will assemble on the lawns of Bharat Mandapam – the summit venue – for a family photo, followed by a joint tree-planting ceremony. The first day’s engagements will conclude with a gala dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 7:30 pm.
On Sunday, leaders from BRICS member states, partner nations, and outreach invitees will arrive starting at 9:55 am, followed by an official group photo at 10:35 am.
The opening session, titled ‘Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth’, is scheduled to begin at 10:50 am, according to the schedule released by the MEA.
The summit will culminate with the release of the New Delhi Declaration.
Formalised at the 2006 UN General Assembly, BRIC held its first summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.
The group expanded to BRICS after agreeing to admit South Africa during the 2010 UNGA Foreign Ministers’ meeting, with South Africa joining its first summit in Sanya in 2011.
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