18th BRICS Summit Opens in New Delhi Today, Xi Jinping and Other World Leaders to Attend

Dragon Media News Desk

The 18th BRICS Summit opens in the Indian capital New Delhi on Saturday, marking the 20th anniversary of the grouping, which has now expanded to 11 member countries and 10 partner countries.

Security has been tightened across New Delhi ahead of the summit. BRICS banners and promotional materials have been placed around Bharat Mandapam, the main venue, while security patrols have been intensified. Hotels near the venue are reported to be almost fully booked.

This year’s summit is being held under the theme, “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.” Leaders are expected to discuss energy and food security, local-currency payments, technology, supply chains, trade cooperation and reforms to multilateral institutions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the summit on September 12 and 13. According to China’s Foreign Ministry, Xi will address the gathering and hold in-depth exchanges with other leaders on the international situation, the development of BRICS mechanisms and ways to deepen practical cooperation.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said BRICS is a key platform for solidarity and cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries. She said China attaches great importance to BRICS cooperation and has actively participated in its development.

According to Mao, Xi is expected to present important Chinese initiatives and proposals aimed at promoting the high-quality development of broader BRICS cooperation. She said China is ready to work with fellow BRICS countries to ensure steady and sustained progress in cooperation.

China and India are also making arrangements for a bilateral meeting between Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If held, it will be the third consecutive year that the two leaders have met, following their meetings in Kazan and Tianjin.

China has said it wants to approach relations with India from a strategic and long-term perspective, strengthen communication, expand cooperation and properly manage differences.

Xu Feibiao, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations and director of its BRICS and G20 Research Center, said continued high-level exchanges indicate that China-India relations have gained positive momentum.

Antara Ghosal Singh, China Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, also described Xi’s participation as an important development for China-India relations. She said stronger coordination between China and India could have implications not only for the Global South, but also for global peace and prosperity.

The Middle East crisis, energy security and regional stability are also expected to feature prominently during the summit. China has reiterated its support for what it describes as a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable approach to security, with dialogue and political settlement at the centre of resolving major disputes.

BRICS countries now account for nearly half of the world’s population, around 30 percent of the global economy and about one-fifth of global trade. Their expanding economic and demographic weight has increased the grouping’s influence in debates over global governance, development finance, trade and reform of multilateral institutions.

Analysts say attention at the summit will focus on three main areas: interactions among participating leaders, the concrete outcomes and new initiatives emerging from the meeting, and the future direction of broader BRICS cooperation.

Economic and trade cooperation is expected to remain a central agenda item. New initiatives may also emerge in health, climate, environment, industrial cooperation and agriculture.

China has long supported the expansion of BRICS cooperation. At the ninth BRICS Summit in Xiamen in 2017, Xi proposed the “BRICS Plus” model to involve more emerging markets and developing countries in the grouping’s cooperative efforts.

The 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, in October 2024 was the first in-person leaders’ summit following the grouping’s expansion. Since then, more countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, becoming partner countries or strengthening ties with the mechanism.

Chinese and other analysts argue that China’s economic scale, industrial capacity, development experience and long-term planning have given it a significant role within BRICS. They view China not only as an important participant, but also as a major contributor of development ideas and policy initiatives.

Iranian academic Foad Izadi has also described China’s role in BRICS as significant. He argued that the strengthening of BRICS gives Global South countries greater room to expand their representation and policy options in global governance.

The two-day summit is expected to provide new signals on the institutional development of BRICS, economic cooperation among member states, China-India relations, energy and food security, local-currency trade and reform of global governance.

For the next two days, New Delhi will serve as a major centre of political and economic discussion among leading emerging powers and countries of the Global South.