As Brics turns 20, India aims to deliver a chairship of substance

On Saturday and Sunday, the leaders of the Brics countries will meet in New Delhi for the grouping’s 18th summit. It falls in the year Brics completes two decades since its founding, and in the first year that India has chaired the grouping in its enlarged form. Eleven members now sit at the table; 10 more participate as partner countries. Between them, they account for something close to half of humanity, roughly two-fifths of global output and about a quarter of world trade. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi framed our approach at last year’s summit in Rio de Janeiro in two words: Humanity First. The chairship theme that Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar launched in January – “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Co-operation and Sustainability” – follows from that. The theme also rests on four working pillars: resilience in health, agriculture, food, energy, disaster preparedness and supply chains; innovation through startups, MSMEs, research, digital public infrastructure and artificial intelligence; co-operation through strengthened multilateralism and reform of global governance; and sustainability through clean energy, adaptation and nature-based solutions. The scale of the undertaking bears stating plainly. India held more than 400 meetings across 35 ministerial and heads-of-agency tracks, supported by sherpa, working group, business and people-to-people tracks, in close to 30 cities. More than 20 ministerial and heads-of-agency meetings have been held, spanning foreign affairs, national security, justice, agriculture, energy, health, transport, labour, environment, science and technology, information and communication technology, women’s development, disaster management, trade, industry, education, culture, tourism, finance and central banking, alongside space agencies, customs and competition authorities, standards bodies, prosecution services and audit institutions. Under the aegis of the Brics Business Forum and the Women’s Business Alliance, more than 90 business engagements have brought in MSMEs, startups and women entrepreneurs. The outcomes are not confined to paper. This year has seen the launch of Brics AgriN, a network on agricultural inputs and genetic resources, together with centres of excellence on agro-ecology and regenerative agriculture; a digital centre of excellence for smart grids and energy storage; Brics Connect; a Brics mission for healthy lifestyle; an expert working group on traditional, complementary and integrative medicine; voluntary principles for climate-resilient urban infrastructure; co-operation in standardisation; and a logistics and supply-chain co-operation framework. The urbanisation track produced the first ministerial declaration in its history. Two features of the year deserve particular mention. The first is the whole-of-nation method we carried over from our G20 presidency : union ministries, state governments, industry, academia and think tanks working to a single plan. The second is the deliberate decision to host meetings across the country. Delegates have worked in Jaipur, Nagpur, Gurugram, Varanasi, Indore, Chandigarh and elsewhere; they have seen the Kashi Vishwanath corridor and Sanchi, sat through yoga sessions, met artisans, and eaten food sourced through the “One District One Product” initiative. A country of India’s diversity is not conveyed from a single conference centre. India supported the UAE’s membership of Brics from the outset. We firmly believe that the Emirates strengthens the grouping and not merely enlarge it. India appreciates the UAE’s constructive participation throughout our chairship; consistently at senior and ministerial level, and across the full breadth of the agenda. In February, the UAE joined the first meeting of sherpas and sous-sherpas in New Delhi, where the year’s priorities were settled. In May, Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, Minister of State, represented the UAE at the foreign ministers’ meeting at Bharat Mandapam. The sectoral tracks followed the same pattern. At the energy ministers’ meeting in Gurugram in June, Sharif Al Olama, Undersecretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs, delivered the UAE’s national statement, joined the launch of the Smart Grids and Energy Storage Centre of Excellence, and endorsed the ministerial communique. It had also contributed materially, through the energy working group, to the Hydrogen Value Chains Report released there. At the labour and employment ministers’ meeting, the UAE set out how AI and adaptive legislation are being used to build a labour market resilient to technological change, drawing on the experience of a workforce spanning more than 200 nationalities. Last month, Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Foreign Trade, came to Jaipur for the trade ministers’ meeting and held bilateral discussions with his counterparts from India . Later, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy, led the UAE delegation to the tourism ministers’ meeting, which adopted the Jaipur Declaration. The UAE lent its support to a Brics tourism solutions exchange platform, a practical way of circulating best practices between member states. Dr Sultan Al Neyadi, Minister of State for Youth Affairs, led the UAE delegation to the youth ministers’ meeting in Visakhapatnam, which adopted a joint statement on youth co-operation. Recently, Dr Amna Al Dahak, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, led the UAE delegation to the 12th environment ministers’ meeting. Leaders, including Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, will meet in New Delhi over the next couple of days and are expected to adopt the New Delhi Declaration. Twenty years on, Brics is larger, more argumentative and considerably more consequential. India’s aim this year has been to make it inclusive, action-oriented and responsive to the priorities of the world. We are grateful to the UAE for its part in that work, and we look forward to welcoming its delegation to Delhi.