Jaishankar Expected to Visit Nepal in Late August to Invite PM Shah to BRICS Summit
Dragon Media Correspondent
Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is expected to visit Nepal in the final week of August to formally invite Prime Minister Balendra Shah to attend the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi.
According to a senior source at Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited by BahraKhabar, Jaishankar is preparing to travel to Kathmandu later this month, provided there is no unforeseen change in circumstances.
India is chairing BRICS in 2026, with the 18th BRICS Summit scheduled to be held in New Delhi on September 12 and 13. Alongside the leaders of member states, India is also expected to invite selected non-member and regional partner countries to participate as special guests.
If the proposed visit takes place, it will be among the most significant high-level political visits from India to Nepal since the formation of the new government.
India has previously invited Nepal to participate in high-level engagements held alongside BRICS summits. In 2016, then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal attended the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit held in Goa alongside the eighth BRICS Summit.
During that visit, Dahal, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping also held an informal trilateral interaction. The occasion drew attention to the idea of developing Nepal as a dynamic bridge between India and China.
BRICS currently has 11 full members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
The expanded BRICS grouping has increasingly focused on strengthening the representation of the Global South, reforming global governance, expanding economic and financial cooperation, and enhancing the role of developing economies in the international system.
If Prime Minister Shah accepts the invitation, the New Delhi summit could provide Nepal not only with an opportunity for high-level engagement with India, but also with a broader diplomatic platform for interaction with China, Russia and other major BRICS members.
