India is set to host the 18th Brics Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, bringing together leaders of member and partner countries as the grouping marks 20 years
India is set to host the 18th Brics Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on September 12 and 13, bringing together leaders of Brics member and partner countries, along with Outreach Invitees. The summit will mark the culmination of India’s fourth Brics presidency, as the grouping also celebrates 20 years since its establishment.
India’s Brics Presidency is centred on the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”, reflecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a people-centric approach guided by the spirit of “Humanity First”. Leaders will also discuss ways to strengthen intra-Brics cooperation on shared priorities and exchange views on global and regional issues of mutual importance.
The summit follows a year of intensive engagem ent under India’s chairship, with more than 350 meetings and high-level programmes held across over 25 cities. The initiatives have covered the bloc’s three core pillars: political and security cooperation, economic and financial matters, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
Business-to-business and people-to-people initiatives have also formed part of the engagements, with India’s chairship seeking practical and development-orientated outcomes.
India, a founding member of Brics, has previously held the chairship in 2012, 2016 and 2021. It assumed its fourth Brics chairship on January 1 this year.
From BrIC to Brics
The grouping began as BrIC in 2006, when its first Foreign Ministers’ meeting took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The inaugural BrIC Summit followed in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.
At a BrIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York in 2010, members agreed to expand the grouping with the inclusion of South Africa. South Africa subsequently participated in the 3rd Brics Summit in Sanya in 2011.
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE became full members in January 2024, while Indonesia joined in January 2025.
In 2025, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam joined Brics as partner countries.
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