The 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi: Background and Evolution

TASS-FACTBOX. The 18th Summit of the BRICS interstate association will be held in New Delhi, India, on September 12-13. The event will be held under the motto "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability." Among the issues on the agenda of the summit are the creation of mechanisms for settlements in national currencies, cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence, technologies, energy and critical infrastructure. This year, India is hosting the BRICS summit for the fourth time.

TASS editors have prepared a special feature on the history of BRICS and its evolution.

Creation and goals

The organization was established in 2006 upon Russia’s initiative. The organization’s co-founders were Brazil, Russia, India and China. The acronym BRIC was derived from the names of the association’s member countries in English. After South Africa joined them in 2011, the association was renamed to BRICS.

At the first summit in Yekaterinburg in June 2009, its goal was defined as "the development of consistent, active, pragmatic and open dialogue and cooperation between countries." Later, BRICS declared it was not a bloc or antagonist to any third parties.

BRICS expansion

At a remote meeting of the quintet’s foreign ministers in May 2022, China came up with an idea to launch the process of expanding BRICS, with the aim of increasing its membership and influence in the world. By August 2023, about 20 countries had applied to join the organization. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, all BRICS members were in favor of admitting like-minded countries "that believe in multipolarity and in the need for more democratic and fair international relations."

At the 15th summit held in Johannesburg (South Africa) on August 22-24, 2023, it was announced that six countries - Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - would join the organization. However, in December 2023 Argentina changed its mind (after President Javier Milei came to power). Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has retained the status of an invited country.

Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, and the UAE became full members of BRICS on January 1, 2024, while Indonesia joined the association on January 6, 2025, bringing the total number of members to ten. The expanded group has been informally referred to as BRICS Plus.

At the 16th BRICS Summit, held in Kazan in October 2024, a new format of participation was introduced - the BRICS partnership - which became a mandatory step before becoming full member.

On January 1, 2025, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan received BRICS partner status, followed by Nigeria on January 17, and Vietnam on June 14. Therefore, the organization has as of today 10 permanent member countries while 12 more enjoy the partner status.

Summits and ministerial meetings

BRICS does not have a headquarters or a charter. It is essentially an informal club, or rather a platform for collaboration. The rotating presidency is held by the summit’s host country. Since 2013, the presiding country has been inviting countries close to it geographically and geopolitically to participate in the summits. Regular negotiations are held at the level of foreign ministers, finance, health, education, science and agriculture ministers, and secretaries of security councils. Since 2015, the BRICS civil, parliamentary and youth forums, as well as media summits have been held. Today there are more than 20 negotiating platforms within the BRICS framework, covering such areas as energy efficiency, climate change, food security, poverty alleviation, sustainable development, and the activities of international financial institutions.

Since hosting its first BRICS event in June 2009 in Yekaterinburg, Russia has chaired the association three more times and hosted multiple meetings of BRICS participants.

In July 2015, Russia hosted the 7th BRICS Summit in Ufa. In November 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it held the 12th summit via video link, with cameras set up in the presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow for Putin. Russia also hosted the 16th summit on October 22-24, 2024, held in Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan.

The most recent 17th BRICS Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) on July 6-7, 2025. During the summit, participants expressed their views on the most pressing international issues, including the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and outlined directions for the further development of the association. The final declaration included statements on international politics, economics and trade, international security, climate and sustainable development, reducing the risks of natural disasters, issues related to the development of artificial intelligence and cooperation in space exploration.

BRICS activities

To date, the BRICS countries have established several structures in the business and financial sphere, including the Exchange Alliance (2011), the Business Council and the Council of Centers of Expertise (2013). Since 2011, the BRICS Business Forum has been organized to strengthen trade, business, investment and production ties among the BRICS member countries. In 2014, the BRICS New Development Bank was established with its headquarters in Shanghai (China). Its shared capital is $100 billion.

The Bank is designed to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS nations and developing countries. Since its launch, it has approved 120 projects worth $39 billion. The Bank works in conjunction with the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (the agreement was signed in July 2015).

Since 2015, the summits have been adopting a key document in the field of economic interaction - the five-year Economic Partnership Strategy. This document is still under consideration.

Moreover, the BRICS countries are also developing cooperation in the fields of science, education, healthcare, space exploration, culture, sports and other spheres. The Scientific Council has been functioning since 2013. In September 2017, the BRICS Network University (established in 2015), which includes about 60 universities (among them 12 Russian, including Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University and Urals Federal University), began operating. The main subjects of educational and research programs are economics and energy; IT and information security; ecology and climate change and water resources. This educational institution is headquartered at the Urals Federal University in Yekaterinburg.

BRICS has been holding film festivals since September 2016, and theater school festivals since 2017. In August 2020, at Russia’s initiative, the first meeting of sports ministers was convened. It approved a memorandum of cooperation, envisaging BRICS sports games, cooperation in the field of sports and organization of sports recreation and leisure. The first BRICS Games were held in Kazan on June 12-23, 2024, with 27 sports included in the program.

Statistics

The population of the BRICS+ countries accounts for 49.5% of the world’s 8.2 billion people. In 2025, the combined GDP of BRICS countries, according to World Bank data, reached 30%, compared to 43% for G7 member states. The combined GDP of BRICS members measured by purchasing power parity (PPP) accounted for 39.2%, compared to 28.3% for the G7 countries. China accounts for 70% of the global economy, India for 13%, Russia for 8%, Brazil for 7% and South Africa for 2%.

On July 4, 2025, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated at the Board of Governors meeting of the New Development Bank that the total financial assets of BRICS countries exceed $60 trillion, representing more than 50% of the global total. In June 2025, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, announced that trade between BRICS countries had reached $1 trillion.