Archive · 12 Sep 2026
BRICS Summit Brings Major Powers and Emerging Leaders Together
BRICS is a group where large developing countries meet to discuss cooperation.
Its 18th summit is taking place in New Delhi, India.
Important attendees include China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Leaders from Iran, Egypt, South Africa and other countries are also involved.
The group has grown beyond its original five members.
Countries use BRICS to discuss trade, energy, transport and how global institutions should work.
Some members want developing countries to have more influence in organizations such as the IMF and World Bank.
India must balance relationships with countries that sometimes disagree with one another.
Saudi Arabia’s role is especially unclear because it was invited to join but has not fully clarified its membership.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior leaders are gathering in New Delhi for the 18th BRICS Summit.
The meeting includes representatives from expanded BRICS members such as Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
Xi’s attendance is notable because it is his first visit to India since the 2020 border clashes between the two countries.
Russia is using BRICS to maintain diplomatic relationships beyond the Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.
Saudi Arabia’s participation carries particular uncertainty because it was invited to join BRICS but has not clearly confirmed its formal membership status.
- Who
- Leaders and senior representatives from BRICS members, partner countries and international organizations, including Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Masoud Pezeshkian, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Cyril Ramaphosa.
- What
- The 18th BRICS Summit, focused on cooperation among emerging economies and the grouping’s expanding international role.
- When
- The summit begins Saturday, September 12; the articles do not specify a year.
- Where
- New Delhi, India.
- Why
- The meeting addresses economic and diplomatic cooperation, greater developing-country representation in global institutions, and issues involving wars, trade routes and great-power competition.
BRICS Expansion and Multipolarity
Strategic Caution and Internal Differences
Role in global governance
BRICS Expansion and Multipolarity
Supporters view BRICS as a platform for a more multipolar international system, greater representation for developing countries and reduced dependence on the US dollar.
Strategic Caution and Internal Differences
The grouping includes countries with differing interests and relationships, including tensions involving Iran, the United Arab Emirates and other major powers.
Russia’s diplomatic position
BRICS Expansion and Multipolarity
Russia uses BRICS to demonstrate that it retains important international partnerships with countries that have not joined Western sanctions.
Strategic Caution and Internal Differences
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to extensive Western sanctions and made its participation part of wider great-power competition.
India’s balancing strategy
BRICS Expansion and Multipolarity
The summit allows India to maintain ties with Russia, Iran, China and Gulf states while pursuing trade, energy and connectivity interests.
Strategic Caution and Internal Differences
India must manage unresolved tensions with China, its relationships with the United States and Israel, and competing ties with Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
- Summit
- 18th BRICS Summit
- Location
- New Delhi, India
- China’s BRICS role
- China is described as the grouping’s largest economy and a major manufacturing, trading and investment power.
- Russia-India trade
- Bilateral trade reached nearly $70 billion in 2024–25, with a target of $100 billion by 2030.
- Recent members
- Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia joined BRICS in 2024; Indonesia became a full member in 2025.
- Saudi Arabia
- Saudi Arabia was invited to join in 2023 and is listed among BRICS members, but its formal membership remains ambiguous.
- Strategic geography
- Egypt controls the Suez Canal, while Iran’s location connects South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe.