New Delhi: India is set to host the BRICS Summit in September this year, an event that is drawing global attention. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are expected to participate in the high-profile gathering.
Why is the summit important?
The participation of the leaders of China, Iran and Russia in the summit, which will be held in New Delhi during September 12-13, will set up the possibility of bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to reports.
The summit is expected to be dominated by differences between Iran and the UAE, which joined the group during the BRICS expansion in January 2024.
President Masoud Pezeshkian’s participation will provide Iran with an opportunity to brief Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the West Asian crisis and reinvigorate bilateral ties between the two countries.
What about the summit?
The BRICS Summit will be hosted by India after a gap of five years, and the theme is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability. Some global issues, including cooperation between nations, development and new technologies, as well as the persistent conflict in West Asia, are expected to be on the agenda of the meeting.
The summit is being held amid sharp differences between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) arising from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Why is Xi Jinping’s visit important?
If Chinese President Xi Jinping visits India, it will be his first visit since October 2019. He visited Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu for the second informal summit with PM Modi in 2019. Just six months later, India-China relations deteriorated significantly due to the incursion of Chinese troops in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). However, PM Modi and Jinping met in Kazan, Russia, in October 2024, following an agreement to end the military standoff at the LAC. The two leaders subsequently held bilateral talks during the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin.
