Washington, DC [US], September 12 (ANI): South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman said on Saturday that the 18th BRICS Summit offers India, the chair, a pivotal platform to reassert its global leadership and strengthen ties with the Global South amid growing volatility in the international order.
Analysing the geopolitical landscape surrounding the summit, Kugelman noted that the gathering comes at a crucial juncture as developing nations seek alternatives to the existing global framework.
"Timing is very important for BRICS because we are seeing an intensification of volatility in the global economic and financial order, as well as in the global order as a whole. BRICS is meant to provide new contributions to the global order at a time when there is rising discontent with that order, particularly within the Global South," Kugelman stated.
"The timing of this year's annual summit is very fortuitous. It also provides an opportunity for India to reassert its global leadership and redouble its efforts to connect with the Global South. These are important priorities for Indian foreign policy," he added.
However, Kugelman warned that New Delhi faces significant diplomatic hurdles in forging unity within an expanded and increasingly complex grouping, noting that a joint statement would measure the success of the summit.
"India will measure the success of this summit by its ability to produce a joint statement that is substantive. To get a joint statement, you need to produce some type of consensus within BRICS," he explained. "The expansion of its membership has made it more likely that the group will be ineffective in the future because of the increasing challenge of reaching a consensus."
Specifically, Kugelman highlighted two central challenges that test India's diplomatic balancing act — navigating the ongoing tensions in West Asia, given the attendance of leadership from both Iran and the UAE, and the ideological divide between the participating nations and the US, especially with New Delhi's interim bilateral trade agreement with Washington on the line.
"India will face two specific challenges. One will be how to handle the issue of the war in Iran. How will they be able to find any type of common ground, given that you have both Iran and the UAE in BRICS? The second big specific challenge is the US factor, because several BRICS members—Russia and Iran, and maybe China as well—will want to have language that is very critical of the United States. India and other members of BRICS will not want to do that because they are very keen to safeguard their relationships with the United States, particularly in the case of India, which is currently engaged in very delicate negotiations with the United States toward a trade agreement," he said.
Earlier on Friday, noting that India is building economic bridges while trade barriers are rising globally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the country has made supply chains across sectors more diversified and offers the assurance of growth and stability even amidst global uncertainties.
Speaking at the Leaders' Session of the BRICS Business Forum, PM Modi said BRICS nations are emerging as important centres of global innovation and solutions.
He also said that global trade can move forward only when sea lanes are secure, supply routes remain open and seafarers are safe.
PM Modi said the theme of India’s BRICS chairmanship is 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability.'
“Over the past 12 years, India has made this mantra the foundation of its economic and trade policies. Regarding resilience, India has made supply chains spanning sectors from energy to technology more diversified and reliable. It is a result of this resilience that, even amidst global uncertainties, India today offers the assurance of growth and stability. We are rapidly expanding our roads, railways, ports, and airports,” he said.
PM Modi said BRICS has expanded significantly since its launch in 2006, with its family of members and partners now comprising 21 countries. (ANI)
"Opportunity for India to reassert its global leadership": South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman on BRICS 2026
