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Leaders representing the 11-member BRICS bloc have unanimously approved a comprehensive joint declaration on the opening day of their two-day summit in New Delhi. The consensus on the New Delhi Declaration was reached despite sharp internal disagreements among member nations regarding the ongoing wars in Iran and Ukraine, as well as escalating international trade pressures.
The negotiated text reflects a delicate diplomatic balancing act, urging general restraint across the Middle East while deliberately avoiding direct condemnation of recent United States-Israeli military strikes or Iranian retaliatory operations targeting Gulf countries. Furthermore, while the document takes aim at unilateral trade measures and global economic friction, it refrains from explicitly identifying the United States as the driver of these policies.
The 18th BRICS Summit brought prominent world leaders to the Indian capital, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, alongside their host, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Their gathering unfolds against a backdrop of severe international turbulence marked by the US-Israel war on Iran, aggressive tariff policies introduced by Washington, and unilateral shifts in American foreign policy.
Addressing the assembly, Prime Minister Modi proclaimed that BRICS has achieved a defining "coming of age" moment. He called upon the nations of the Global South to transition from passive participants in global governance into proactive "rule-shapers," arguing that developing economies must take a central role in redefining international frameworks rather than merely adhering to standards formulated by traditional powers.
Modi simultaneously sought to moderate perceptions of the bloc’s geopolitical trajectory, insisting that the expanding coalition should not be viewed as an intrinsically anti-Western enterprise. Emphasizing that BRICS is not organized against any specific nation or bloc, the Indian prime minister framed the group’s mission around securing equitable representation and greater systemic influence for emerging economies on the world stage.
Originally established in 2006 as an economic dialogue mechanism between Brazil, Russia, India, and China, the group incorporated South Africa four years later. The bloc has since undergone significant expansion, bringing Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia into the fold. Today, the 11-nation alliance represents roughly 40 percent of global gross domestic product and encompasses nearly half of the world's total population.
A central objective uniting the expanded group remains the fundamental reform of Western-dominated multilateral architecture. BRICS members continue to push for substantial overhauls within critical international bodies, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, seeking governance structures that reflect contemporary economic realities.
The volatile conflict in the Middle East presented one of the most rigorous tests to date for the expanded bloc’s cohesion. In the final declaration, member states expressed deep concern over the continuing escalation of hostilities across the region and urged all involved parties to exercise maximum restraint to prevent further destabilization, omitting direct references to the US, Israel, Iran, or neighboring Gulf states.
Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated this sentiment during the summit, stating that the ongoing military confrontations run counter to the shared interests of the broader international community. Xi used the platform to appeal for an immediate, comprehensive, and permanent ceasefire, urging world leaders to pursue a negotiated political settlement to resolve the crisis.
The unanimity achieved in New Delhi stands in contrast to earlier diplomatic setbacks. In May, BRICS foreign ministers were unable to issue a joint statement after talks collapsed due to deep polarization over the conflict in Iran. The issue remains particularly sensitive within the bloc, as both Iran and the United Arab Emirates are members, despite the UAE having sustained attacks during the course of regional hostilities.
The summit declaration also expressed explicit concern regarding deliberate strikes against civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. This specific clause is widely viewed as a veiled reference to the 12-day war in 2025, during which the United States carried out airstrikes against three primary Iranian nuclear sites situated in Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow.
Former Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao characterized the adoption of the declaration as a major diplomatic victory for New Delhi, particularly given the acute friction between Tehran and Abu Dhabi. Rao noted that while consensus was preserved through generalized wording, the outcome illustrated both the bloc’s capacity to maintain dialogue and its inherent limitation in organizing collective action or assigning accountability during member disputes.
The deliberate decision to avoid naming specific countries extended to discussions on international commerce. Reporting from the summit, Al Jazeera correspondent Um-e-Kulsoom Shariff noted that while the declaration asserted that unilateral tariffs violate international law, it omitted naming Washington directly, enabling nations like India and other members to safeguard their critical bilateral trade relationships.
Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, observed that initial expectations for the New Delhi summit were exceptionally low given the prevailing geopolitical turbulence. Donthi remarked that member states invested in the non-Western alliance would likely view the modest joint declaration as a success, crediting Indian backchannel diplomacy with bridging the substantial divide between Iran and the UAE to preserve the bloc's unity.
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