BRICS Summit opens in New Delhi amid geopolitical tensions

The annual BRICS summit has opened in New Delhi, with China’s President Xi Jinping, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian among those attending.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hosting the two-day meeting, the fourth time the country has hosted a BRICS summit.

The presidency has fallen to New Delhi at a difficult moment, with wars in the Middle East and Ukraine disrupting energy and shipping, tariffs pressing on members, and the members at odds over how to answer either challenge.

Expansion of non-Western cross-border payment channels and cooperation on artificial intelligence are also key items on the agenda.

President Xi arrived in the Indian capital on Saturday morning, his first visit to the country in seven years as the two Asian giants seek to thaw relations.

On Friday, Modi held talks with Putin – agreeing to deepen ties – and with Pezeshkian, raising freedom of navigation and the safety of ship crews.

Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed and Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto are also in attendance. The UAE has sent the crown prince of Abu Dhabi as its representative. Founding member Brazil sent Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira to stand in for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The heads of the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are also present in India for the summit.

Iran and the United Arab Emirates, both members, are on opposing sides of the war waged on Iran by the United States and Israel.

Last year’s summit saw the bloc issue a joint declaration condemning the 12-day US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran’s leadership and nuclear programme. But a meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in May this year ended without a joint statement on the conflict.

The bloc’s finance ministers and central bank governors have objected to tariffs and non-tariff measures they say distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO rules.

The US has levied tariffs on several members of the bloc under different pretexts, often conditioning their removal on policy changes by the target country. President Donald Trump has described the bloc as “anti-American” and threatened to impose punitive tariffs on countries that align with it.

“As the host, New Delhi has a delicate balancing act,” says Al Jazeera’s Um-e-Kulsoom Shariff, reporting from New Delhi.

“It has pressing issues to address: Trade, finance, technology, energy security, resilient supply chains and climate change. But as the alliance marks its 20th anniversary, the major test is whether its newly expanded membership can further empower the Global South.”