West Asia on boil, sherpas try to bridge divide within BRICS

West Asia on boil, sherpas try to bridge divide within BRICS Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bilateral meetings with Putin and Pezeshkian on Friday have been confirmed by authorities.

Key points

• 6 min read New Delhi Sep 10, 2026 05: 20 AM IST.
• When Foreign Ministers of the BRICS met in New Delhi, Russia's Sergey Lavrov informed the UAE and Iranian ministers to hold direct negotiations, in May this year.
• According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the summit will commence Saturday with a closed-door session for BRICS member countries themed 'Inclusive Global Governance and Strengthening Multilateralism'.
• India's chairship is centred on the four pillars of the theme: Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.
• Bharat Mandapam, the BRICS Summit venue, illuminated in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Bharat Mandapam, the BRICS Summit venue, illuminated in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI).

With the war in West Asia flaring up after the exchange of strikes between the US and Iran, the BRICS Sherpas, the most senior negotiators from the 11 member countries of the grouping, are burning the midnight oil to try and hammer out a joint declaration for the New Delhi summit of the leaders on September 12-13.

Meanwhile, the key point of discord, it is learnt, is the formulation over the war in West Asia given that Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are projected to be at the summit table.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin's attendance has been confirmed, authorities are additionally preparing for the participation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is not going to be at this gathering since he attended the AI summit in New Delhi in February this year, and will send a top administration representative.

With the UAE and Iran, new members of the BRICS since 2024, part of the negotiations, Indian authorities, along with the Russians, Brazilians and Egyptians, are working to bridge the gap between the warring parties.

With India as host, here are better goals for BRICS than 'confronting the West'.

Ever since the start of the war on February 28 when the US and Israel attacked Iran, Tehran has targeted US bases in the Gulf region including in the UAE. This has had the Emiratis and the Iranians at loggerheads over the last six months.

Sources informed The Indian Express that Indian office-holders are trying to hold separate meetings with authorities of the UAE and Iran, and bring them on the same page for the Delhi declaration.

"We would like to have a BRICS' Delhi declaration. It is a consensus document, in all the paragraphs. Efforts are underway to achieve that outcome. We are optimistic we can accomplish that, " a senior Indian official remarked.

BRICS meet: Focus on discussions with China over tech import, investment curbs.

At that time, India was unable to bridge the diplomatic gap within the BRICS and could not come up with a joint statement after the two-day session of the Foreign Ministers.

Hosting the BRICS summit at a time of rapidly changing geopolitics gives India the room to push for a multipolar order in which the Global South's priorities and reservations are addressed. Balancing ties between its Western allies and the grouping's non-Western members will require some tightrope walking.

Instead, Delhi had issued a chair statement and an outcome document, trying to reflect the divergences between Iran and the UAE over the war. The statement had underlined "differing views among some members" over the West Asia situation, and that BRICS members had expressed their "respective national positions".

With the crisis in the key Strait of Hormuz affecting economies and sending energy rates soaring, Delhi is keen that it reflects in the joint declaration after arriving at a common position and language.

Authorities in Delhi are confident that the summit agenda is robust, dealing with the burning matters of the time – from food security to climate change, energy security to the economic impact.

After the session, leaders will tour the 'Bharat Innovates Exhibition', assemble for a family photo, followed by a joint tree-planting ceremony.

Meanwhile, the first day's engagements will conclude with a dinner hosted by Modi.

On Sunday, leaders from BRICS member states, partner nations and outreach invitees will gather for the open session, titled 'Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Expansion'.

According to authorities, India's BRICS chairship is guided by the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability', reflecting its vision of a people-centric approach rooted in the spirit of "humanity first". Along with these areas, leaders will exchange views on strengthening intra-BRICS cooperation on common priorities and share perspectives on global and regional matters of mutual importance, according to the MEA.

India's chairship is centred on the four pillars of the theme: Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability. Under the Resilience Pillar, the chairship focuses on strengthening collective resilience in areas such as health, agriculture, food, energy, disaster risk reduction and supply chains. Under the Innovation Pillar, it seeks to promote cooperation in the field of startups, MSMEs, science, technology, entrepreneurship, research and development, Digital Public Infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence. Under the Cooperation Pillar, the chairship places emphasis on strengthening multilateralism.

Advancing reforms of global governance institutions and fostering practical cooperation on developmental problems throughout the tracks. Under the Sustainability Pillar, the chairship focuses on promoting clean and renewable energy, climate action and adaptation, nature-based solutions and sustainable consumption.

Among the outcomes projected during the summit will be smart grids and energy storage, urban infrastructure and MSME cooperation portal.

According to authorities, this year's BRICS will be particularly different from the past summits India hosted: the 2012 summit took place in a luxury hotel in Delhi, the 2016 summit took place in a hotel in Goa, and the 2021 summit took place virtually as of the Covid pandemic.

For now, west Asia on boil, sherpas try to bridge divide within BRICS remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.