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COVER STORY SEPTEMBER 11, 2026 | The Indian Eye 4

18TH BRICS SUMMIT
SHAPING A NEW

WORLD ORDER

As India prepares to host the 18th BRICS Summit next weekend in New Delhi, the grouping is becoming an increasingly

important platform for the Global South to shape debates on power, finance, technology and global governance

OUR BUREAU
New Delhi
he 18th BRICS Summit in
New Delhi comes at a moment
Twhen the international system
is undergoing a profound transition.
Wars, sanctions, trade tensions, ener-
gy insecurity and rivalry among major
powers have exposed the limitations
of a global order still largely shaped
by institutions created in a differ-
ent era. BRICS, with its expanded
membership and growing economic
weight, is increasingly becoming one
of the platforms through which that
transition is being negotiated.
The importance of the Septem-
ber 12-13 summit therefore goes
beyond India’s year-long chairman-
ship. It will test whether BRICS can
convert its growing political and eco-
nomic weight into a more coherent
voice for a multipolar world.
The grouping now brings to-
gether 11 countries — Brazil, Russia, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a group photograph with delegates during the BRICS Cultural Summit at Ravindra Bhawan, in
India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Bhopal on Frida (ANI Photo)
Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Ara-
bia and the United Arab Emirates.
Its expansion has transformed what global governance. will also be determined by who con- ital concentrated in a relatively small
was once essentially a grouping of The New Delhi summit comes trols technologies, digital infrastruc- number of advanced economies.
five major emerging economies into against this background. India has ture, energy systems, supply chains Energy will be another major
a much broader representation of deliberately framed its BRICS chair- and financial networks. India’s effort pillar. The membership includes
the developing world. manship around resilience, innova- to bring its experience with Aadhaar, some of the world’s most important
That expansion is important be- tion, cooperation and sustainability, UPI and digital public infrastructure producers and consumers of ener-
cause the central question confront- with technology, artificial intelligence, into the BRICS conversation reflects gy, creating opportunities for coop-
ing the international system is no lon- digital public infrastructure, startups this new reality. eration on energy security and the
ger simply who dominates it, but who and scientific research among its pri- The proposed BRICS Startup green transition. India and Brazil, in
gets to shape its rules. BRICS coun- orities. This suggests that BRICS is Innovation Fund, Startup Innovation particular, have considerable scope
tries increasingly argue that global attempting to move beyond being Network and Science and Research to exchange experience on biofuels,
institutions do not adequately reflect primarily a political grouping and Repository are examples of how the clean mobility and renewable energy.
the economic and political realities build practical areas of cooperation. grouping could develop institutions Brazil’s experience with green energy
of the 21st century. Their combined That shift could prove signifi- with a practical economic purpose. programmes since the 1970s provides
demand is for greater representation, cant. The emerging world order will Cooperation among emerging econ- a natural basis for cooperation as In-
a larger role for developing countries not be shaped only by military alli- omies in these areas could reduce dia seeks to reduce its dependence
and a less Western-centric system of ances or diplomatic declarations. It dependence on technology and cap- Continued on next page... >>

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