Overview
- On Saturday, Sept. 12, leaders at the two-day BRICS summit in New Delhi adopted the New Delhi Declaration, which calls for maximum restraint, diplomacy and deplores aggression without naming any party.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi held multiple bilateral meetings, including a high-profile talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping that signalled a limited thaw but left the Himalayan border, trade frictions and deeper strategic mistrust unresolved.
- The summit pushed a strong economic agenda focused on trade, investment, energy security, cross-border payment links and greater use of member national currencies to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar.
- India’s chairship relied on intensive sherpa-level diplomacy that worked through the night to bridge divisions between members such as Iran, the UAE and Saudi representatives to secure the joint statement.
- The expanded 11-member BRICS and heavy security presence in New Delhi underline both the bloc’s growing global role and the practical challenge of turning consensus language into coordinated action on conflicts, finance and trade.