This will be achieved through participation in the New Delhi Summit of leaders of partner states, as well as heads of a number of countries chairing regional groups of the Global South and East.
“The broad engagement of precisely this community with BRICS is highly appropriate and very much in demand. It is important that the Indian Chairship has done a great deal of work to bring precisely this group of participants to its Summit,” Sergey Ryabkov noted.
According to Ryabkov, the Summit will be marked by important new decisions and steps forward in deepening cooperation within the group.
The motto of India's 2026 Chairship is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”. These four clusters encompass work across three areas: politics and security, economics and finance, and cultural and humanitarian cooperation.
Ryabkov said: “We are working to consistently strengthen the role of the countries of the global majority and groups such as BRICS in all these areas."
He stressed that BRICS is a network-based group without an internal hierarchy. Consensus, he said, is not an easy mechanism, but without it BRICS would lose a significant part of its appeal. Continuity is another important aspect: the results of Russia's 2024 chairship serve as a foundation for the current work.
“We laid the groundwork in many areas, and work based on these foundations is continuing today. I am referring, above all, to our well-known proposals, supported by all BRICS countries, to establish a cross-border payments initiative, settlement and depository infrastructure, reinsurance capacity, a BRICS Grain Exchange and a new investment platform. [...] We are making consistent efforts to ensure that this work does not remain limited to declarations,” he added.
BRICS has more than 140 projects. The New Development Bank alone has assets of US$140 billion. Ryabkov noted the drive to expand settlements in national currencies and develop alternative mechanisms for servicing projects. This year, the group is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Over two decades, the number of participants has more than doubled and, including partner countries, has increased fourfold.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, whlie addressing the the BRICS Business Forum in new Delhi, stressed the block's member states to use their national curriences in intra-trade transactions, among other issues including the AI role in trade relations.
“The topic of artificial intelligence is currently very prominent. It is probably too early to speak of a fully-fledged BRICS group on artificial intelligence, but we are not falling behind; we are moving forward. [...] All BRICS countries, drawing on these capabilities, as well as on opportunities for the peaceful use of outer space in its various applications and on areas related to creating optimal conditions for expanding mutual trade, reducing barriers and so on, are consolidating the foundations for cooperation. This also applies to public health and combating communicable and non-communicable diseases. It applies to scientific cooperation and education – the BRICS Network University,” Ryabkov added.
Hossein Amiri - seyed mohammad kazemi
