BRICS Summit 2026: Date, Venue, Agenda, Member Countries & Key Highlights

What Are the Dates of BRICS Summit 2026?

India hosts the BRICS Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam on 12–13 September 2026. The BRICS Business Forum takes place prior to the leaders’ summit, on September 11 at the same venue, along with the meeting of Women’s Business Alliance, which is held concurrently with the Business Forum.

Where Will BRICS Summit 2026 Be Held?

The 18th BRICS Summit will take place at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. This will be at the flagship convention center in India located at Pragati Maidan that has organized many diplomatic and multilateral summits before. It has already drawn the attention of the world as the venue of the 2023 G20 Summit; hence, India will be hosting another important summit through its flagship convention center.

What Is the Theme of India’s BRICS Chairship?

The theme of the 18th BRICS Summit will be “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.” This theme is based on the vision of the Prime Minister of India that BRICS should operate based on “Humanity First and People-centric” agenda.

Resilience

Building capabilities of member countries to deal with economic, environmental, and geopolitical challenges.

Innovation

Adoption of innovations, research, and technology in development.

Cooperation

Strengthening cooperation among BRICS nations in all fields.

Sustainability

Promotion of economically sustainable growth that is also environmentally friendly.

India will be chairing BRICS for the fourth time, having chaired it in 2012, 2016, and 2021 before, however, this will be the first time after the historic expansion of BRICS.

BRICS Member Countries in 2026

BRICS is an acronym that emerged to describe an informal grouping of four large emerging economies and has evolved to become an even bigger club. Participants of the summit in 2026 include Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.

In 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE also became part of the alliance alongside the five founding countries, and Indonesia was the last missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle, which demonstrated the attraction of the BRICS alliance for the major emerging powers of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Besides the official members of the group, the BRICS summit also has a circle of associated and outreach countries, which clearly emphasizes the intentions of the alliance to represent a larger “Global South” constituency.

What Will Be the Main Agenda of BRICS Summit 2026?

India is going to emphasize cooperation in three traditional spheres: political and security, economic and financial, and cultural and people-to-people cooperation with its additional priorities for 2026.

Cooperation in Economic and Financial Sphere

Negotiations are likely to address resilient global supply chains and trade, cross-border payment systems, increased role of national currencies, as well as MSME development.

Economic cooperation, in particular, will include increased usage of national currencies and cross-border digital payments within BRICS states.

Reform of Global Governance Institutions

Reform of global governance institutions will be one of the core items on the agenda. India, in particular, will push for a need to make global governance bodies better reflect the new world order – an ongoing BRICS concern related, for example, to representation in the UN Security Council and other international financial bodies.

Cooperation in Technology and Digital Sphere

Another topic that is expected to emerge in the dialogue is that of Digital Public Infrastructure, alongside the topics of digital payments and e-governance solutions, which have been successfully launched in India and will be shared by India with the other BRICS members.

Digital transformation and robust digital infrastructure have been among the priorities of the year-long dialogue of ministers.

Climate and Energy Cooperation

Issues surrounding sustainability like climate resilience, energy transition, and sustainable development are still very pertinent.

Strengthening BRICS Institutions

There has also been talk about the year through discussions on cooperation in healthcare, agriculture resilience, labour mobility, disaster risk reduction and counter-terrorism coordination in addition to financial and economic governance reforms.

As the bloc has doubled its membership in a matter of years, there has been real consideration on how the process should be tightened so that BRICS may function properly as a larger, diversified entity.

BRICS Summit 2026 Preparations and Meetings

In preparation for the summit of the leaders, India has prepared an intensive schedule of engagements. More than 350 engagements have been held in 25 plus cities in India throughout the year to consolidate the BRICS strategic partnership.

It is notable that there was a Sherpas and Sous Sherpas meeting in New Delhi in February when Indian officials outlined a roadmap on the issues of economic coordination, climate action, food and energy security, technological partnerships and institutional reforms.

The BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held in May and chaired by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. It had a specific focus on reform of global governance and the multilateral system.

It is also worth mentioning that there has been strong emphasis on people-to-people interaction beyond the ministerial tracks.

Key Highlights to Watch at BRICS Summit 2026

There will certainly be a few narratives dominating the summit proceedings.

Will Xi Jinping Attend BRICS Summit 2026?

The September summit is getting quite a bit of buzz owing to the possibility of the attendance of Chinese President Xi Jinping amid the broader geopolitical context surrounding the expanded grouping.

There have been some reports about the presence of not only Xi but also Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin as key participants at the summit.

Though there hasn’t been any confirmation from China regarding President Xi’s participation, preparations for such an event are reportedly under way – and this comes with a rather symbolic significance in view of recent India-China tensions.

The Final BRICS Declaration

Like at every other BRICS summit, there will be lots of focus on the joint declaration. The latter should reveal just how much progress the much bigger and more diverse group has made on reaching a consensus on its common goals.

Now there are ten-plus nations sitting at the negotiating table, which makes it much more difficult to agree on sensitive geopolitical matters than before.

Outcomes of Economic Cooperation

Trade, investment, development finance and deepening cooperation among member countries are essential aspects for the BRICS agenda and the key way to measure the results of the summit as commitments or just declarations.

Technology and AI Governance

Trade, finance, and AI policy will most probably be topics to be considered in the upcoming BRICS summit.

It implies that the BRICS bloc, like all other international associations in 2023, plans to introduce the policy of artificial intelligence into its economy and technology framework.

Diplomatic Positioning of India

In this respect, the summit is equally important both for India itself and its diplomatic relations with the Global South.

Hosting the successful summit that involves four continents and various types of political systems will be a symbol of India’s increasing ability to lead multilateral forums and represent the Global South.

The Bottom Line

Thus, the 18th BRICS Summit comes at the crucial period: twenty years after the emergence of BRICS and the first leaders’ summit after the almost doubling of its membership.

Discussions of trade, technologies, climate and global governance reform by heads of state from Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America, hosted by Bharat Mandapam on September 12–13, will indicate the future direction of BRICS and its growing role in the global economy.

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