India remains committed to strengthen the voice of the Global South and champion the cause of developing countries, stated a media note on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming participation at the 11-nation BRICS Summit in Brazil on 6-7 July.
“The expansion of BRICS reflects its growing relevance and credibility as a platform that champions the voice of emerging economies for a more representative and balanced global governance architecture,” the Indian statement emphasised.
It said that India supported the “smooth integration” of new BRICS members and partner countries into the grouping.
The last BRICS Summit in Kazan under the Russian Presidency witnessed the induction of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as new members, marking the first expansion of the Global South grouping since South Africa was inducted as a formal member in 2011. Thirteen new nations were also invited to join the grouping under the "partner country" model at the Kazan Summit.
In January 2025, Indonesia also joined the BRICS as a full member while Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan were inducted as partner countries, the Indian statement said.
“This BRICS Summit marks the first-ever meeting in the Partner Country format. Brazil, as the host, has invited partner countries to the BRICS Summit and has also invited them to participate in various ministerial sessions—highlighting BRICS as an effective platform for amplifying the voice of the developing countries,” it said.
The Indian statement further noted that even though the BRICS countries worked on the “basis of consensus”, this hasn't prevented the grouping from organically developing into a “huge architecture”.
It described the expanding credit facility of the New Development Bank (NDB), the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre, BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation as a few of the more prominent outcomes of intra-BRICS cooperation over the years.
India will take over the BRICS Presidency for 2026 from Brazil, which would mark the first time since 2021 that India would be helming the 11-nation grouping.
The Brazilian Presidency of the BRICS is themed on 'Strengthening Global South Cooperation for a more Inclusive and Sustainable Governance', with the main priorities being bolstering global health cooperation, trade investment and finance, climate change, Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as ensuring the expanded grouping's “institutional development” to streamline the organisation's functioning.
Among the BRICS leaders, President Vladimir Putin is expected to give the Brazil Summit a miss due to an outstanding International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant, while Chinese President Xi Jinping will also reportedly skip the event.