BRICS Summit 2026 LIVE updates: PM Modi hopes for 'positive discussions with aspiration for global welfare' as world leaders gather
World leaders arrived in New Delhi for the 18th BRICS Summit, hosted at Bharat Mandapam under India's 2026 chairship.
Bilateral meetings were held between India and visiting heads of state on the sidelines of the summit, including discussions on trade, investment, and energy cooperation.
The Russian President's visit to India marked his first appearance at a BRICS summit held outside Russia in person since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.
The gathering also featured discussions among member states on connectivity, critical resources, and expanding market access, alongside the formal multilateral summit agenda.
India-Russia "Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership"
India and Russia elevated their bilateral relationship to a "Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership" in 2010 — the highest tier India accords to any bilateral relationship. It is serviced by an annual India-Russia Summit mechanism, distinct from multilateral engagements such as BRICS or the SCO where both countries are also members.
The bilateral meeting held alongside the BRICS multilateral summit follows the established India-Russia summit pattern, even though the venue and timing were driven by the multilateral event.
BRICS Summit Hosting and the Rotating Chairship
BRICS has no permanent secretariat; the annual chairship rotates among member states, with the chair country hosting the leaders' summit and setting the year's thematic priorities. This is structurally similar to (but organisationally distinct from) the G20's rotating presidency, which India held in 2023.
Key Details
- India assumed the BRICS chairship for 2026 (its fourth time, after 2012, 2016, 2021), with the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability" — a mnemonic matching the acronym "BRICS"
- The 18th Leaders' Summit was held 12-13 September 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi — the same venue used for the 2023 G20 Summit
- Unlike the G20, BRICS summit outcomes are typically issued as a consensus-based "Joint Statement" or "Declaration" rather than a formally negotiated communiqué with observer-state sign-off
The choice of Bharat Mandapam and India's fourth chairship term situate this summit within a well-established rotation pattern, reused from India's prior experience hosting the G20.
India-China Border Relations and the Context for Bilateral Engagement
Any high-level visit by China's leadership to India is read against the backdrop of the 2020 Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh, which froze high-level bilateral exchanges for several years, followed by a 2024 disengagement and patrolling agreement that enabled a gradual normalisation of ties.
Key Details
- Galwan Valley clash: June 2020, Eastern Ladakh, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) — first fatal India-China border clash in over four decades
- 2024 disengagement/patrolling agreement: restored patrolling arrangements at friction points, paving the way for renewed high-level contact including a Modi-Xi meeting on the margins of the 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan
- The LAC is a military-perceived boundary, distinct from a mutually demarcated international border, and different in character from the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, which stems from the 1972 Shimla Agreement
A visiting Chinese leadership presence at the New Delhi summit is significant precisely because of this post-Galwan trajectory, marking a continued, gradual normalisation of India-China high-level engagement.
- 18th BRICS Summit: New Delhi, 12-13 September 2026, venue Bharat Mandapam
- India's BRICS chairship years: 2012, 2016, 2021, 2026 (fourth term)
- India-Russia "Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership": declared 2010
- Galwan Valley clash: June 2020, Eastern Ladakh; 2024 disengagement/patrolling agreement followed
- G20 Summit previously hosted at the same venue (Bharat Mandapam): 2023, under India's G20 presidency