Overview
- On June 12 ministers at the 13th BRICS Urbanisation Forum in New Delhi adopted the Delhi Ministerial Declaration committing to people‑centred, inclusive and resilient urban development.
- Delegations formally endorsed India’s proposal to establish the BRICS Urban Research and Knowledge Network as a chairship‑led, institutionally connected, virtual mechanism with one nodal organisation per member country.
- The declaration and forum discussions set shared priorities for BRICS cities including equitable access to housing and services, climate‑ and disaster‑resilient infrastructure, stronger municipal institutions, and expanded digital governance.
- Next steps require each member to nominate a nodal institution and operationalise the network under the chairship cadence with annual coordination by the chair country’s lead institution.
- India showcased domestic urban best practices and launched a compilation of reforms, and the network aims to scale low‑cost peer learning that could improve municipal capacity and speed adoption of resilient city solutions across fast‑urbanising BRICS nations.