Under India's BRICS Chairship, Transport Ministers Adopt Ministerial Declaration at the 3rd BRICS Transport Ministers' Meeting in Nagpur, Maharashtra
The 3rd BRICS Transport Ministers' Meeting concluded in Nagpur, Maharashtra, under India's BRICS Chairship for 2026.
Member countries unanimously adopted a Ministerial Declaration setting out a common framework for cooperation on sustainable transport, logistics, rail research and low-carbon mobility.
The declaration covers areas including logistics and supply-chain cooperation, transport decarbonisation, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), circular-economy practices in transport infrastructure, urban mobility, and the creation of a BRICS Railway Research Network.
The ministerial meeting was preceded by senior-officials' meetings of the BRICS Transport Working Group, which finalised the agenda and draft declaration.
BRICS — Origin, Expansion and India's Rotating Chairship
BRICS began as an informal grouping (BRIC) of Brazil, Russia, India and China, first convened at leaders' level at the 2009 Yekaterinburg Summit, later joined by South Africa (2010-11) to become BRICS. The grouping operates without a permanent secretariat; the chairship rotates annually among members, with the chair country hosting the leaders' summit and thematic ministerial/working-group meetings such as this one.
Key Details
- BRIC first summit: Yekaterinburg, Russia, 2009; South Africa joined in 2010, attending its first summit in 2011 (Sanya, China), forming BRICS.
- 2024 expansion added Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE; Indonesia joined in 2025, taking full membership to eleven countries. A separate "Partner Country" category (Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam) was also created in 2025.
- India is chairing BRICS in 2026 for the fourth time, having previously held the chairship in 2012, 2016 and 2021; the 2026 chairship theme is "Building Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability."
As chair for 2026, India is responsible for setting the agenda and hosting sectoral ministerial meetings such as this Transport Ministers' Meeting, giving it agenda-setting influence over which cooperation frameworks (such as the new Railway Research Network) get formally adopted.
Sectoral Ministerial Tracks and Working Groups in BRICS Institutional Architecture
Beyond the annual Leaders' Summit, BRICS functions through a network of sherpa/sous-sherpa coordination and sector-specific ministerial tracks (finance, trade, health, transport, agriculture, etc.), each usually preceded by working-group and senior-officials' meetings that draft the technical content later adopted at ministerial level.
Key Details
- The Transport Working Group (TWG) held senior-officials' meetings ahead of the ministerial session to finalise the draft declaration — a standard two-tier process (technical/working-group level, then ministerial adoption) used across BRICS sectoral tracks.
- This was the 3rd BRICS Transport Ministers' Meeting, indicating transport cooperation has been institutionalised as a recurring annual track within BRICS alongside longer-established tracks like finance (New Development Bank) and trade.
- Other established BRICS institutional mechanisms include the New Development Bank (NDB, headquartered in Shanghai, established 2015) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA, 2015) — showing how sectoral cooperation (like transport) is layered on top of BRICS's core financial architecture.
The Nagpur meeting and its declaration represent the ministerial-level output of this two-tier institutional process, translating technical working-group recommendations (sustainable transport, SAF, rail research) into a formally adopted multilateral commitment.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and Transport Decarbonisation as a Global Policy Theme
Sustainable Aviation Fuel refers to non-fossil aviation fuel produced from renewable feedstocks (biomass, waste oils, synthetic pathways) that can substitute for conventional jet fuel to reduce lifecycle carbon emissions from aviation, one of the harder-to-decarbonise transport sub-sectors.
Key Details
- SAF adoption is being pushed globally through mechanisms like ICAO's CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) and national blending mandates; India has separately set voluntary/phased SAF blending targets for domestic aviation.
- Transport decarbonisation more broadly spans multiple modes: SAF for aviation, green hydrogen and electrification for road transport, and rail electrification/modal shift for freight — all featuring in the Nagpur declaration's scope.
- The inclusion of a "BRICS Railway Research Network" reflects rail's role as a lower-emission freight and passenger mode compared to road transport, relevant to India's own push for rail-based freight modal shift (targeted increase in rail's freight modal share under National Rail Plan 2030).
By adopting SAF and decarbonisation commitments multilaterally, BRICS transport cooperation aligns with — and could reinforce — India's domestic transport decarbonisation goals under frameworks like the National Rail Plan and India's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
- BRICS traces to the first BRIC Summit at Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009; South Africa joined in 2010-11 to form BRICS.
- 2024 expansion added five new members (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE); Indonesia joined in 2025, bringing full membership to 11 countries, alongside 10 Partner Countries added in 2025.
- India is chairing BRICS in 2026 for the fourth time (previously 2012, 2016, 2021).
- This was the 3rd BRICS Transport Ministers' Meeting, held in Nagpur, Maharashtra, preceded by Transport Working Group senior-officials' meetings.
- The New Development Bank (NDB), a core BRICS financial institution, was established in 2015 and is headquartered in Shanghai.