BRICS Summit begins in Kazan today, first since grouping’s expansion in Jan

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian on Monday said, “We will keep you posted if anything comes up.” China had last week announced Xi’s attendance at the BRICS Summit, saying “he will work with other parties to open a new era for the Global South to seek strength through solidarity”.

Besides Russian President Vladimir Putin, PM Modi and President Xi, participating heads of state include Turkey President Recep Erdogan and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, among others. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will skip the summit in Kazan, owing to medical advice, but will join the conference via video link. The leaders are expected to discuss key global issues including the Ukraine war and West Asia crisis.

Briefing reporters ahead of PM Modi’s two-day visit to Russia for the summit, Misri said, “The leaders are also expected to adopt the Kazan Declaration which will lay the path forward for BRICS. This document is currently being negotiated in Kazan.” While the summit ends on October 24, PM Modi will return on October 23 after the sessions owing to commitments back home.

There is also a Modi-Putin meeting on Tuesday, their second in recent months. Modi had visited Russia in July.

This is a major multilateral summit for the Russian President after two-and-half years of war with Ukraine, and he is projecting it as a power moment for the Kremlin despite Western sanctions. Misri asserted that India views BRICS as a key expression of global multi-polarity. “India’s role at the summit is as an important voice in a growing debate on multipolarity global governance reforms (such as UN Security Council and IMF) and reform in trade architecture such as WTO,” he said.

The alliance, which aims to counterbalance the Western-led world order, started to rapidly expand this year. On January 1 this year, BRICS admitted four new members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, Turkiye, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied, and a number of others expressed a desire to be members.

Ahead of the summit, President Putin said that the BRICS group will generate most of the global economic growth in the coming years. He also called for BRICS nations to explore a SWIFT-like cross-border payments system immune to Western sanctions as well as use national digital currencies in financing investment projects to end US dollar dominance.