Overview
- BRICS labour and employment ministers meeting in Hyderabad adopted a consensus Labour and Employment Ministers’ Declaration and launched BRICS CONNECT on Wednesday as part of India’s 2026 chairship.
- India framed the outcomes as steps to convert summit ideas into practical cooperation on social security, formalisation, women’s workforce participation, employability and cross-border labour mobility.
- Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya stressed that technological change and the shift to an AI-driven economy must protect workers’ rights, dignity and access to social protections.
- International Labour Organization Director-General Gilbert Hünbö said India’s social protection system now reaches about one billion people, a milestone India presented as a shareable model for South–South cooperation.
- BRICS CONNECT is designed to pool training, skills mapping and technology transfer across member states and officials said follow-up ministerial work over the coming months will focus on implementation, knowledge sharing and operationalising the platform.