BRICS Summit closed on September 13 with an expanded open plenary at Bharat Mandapam, bringing the eleven full member states together with partner countries and outreach nations
NEW DELHI: The 18th BRICS Summit closed on September 13 with an expanded open plenary at Bharat Mandapam, bringing the eleven full member states together with partner countries, outreach nations and heads of international organisations. Where Day 1 had focused on closed-door deliberations among members culminating in the New Delhi Declaration, Day 2 shifted deliberately toward the wider Global South, reflecting India’s chairship belief that solutions built within BRICS should remain accessible well beyond it.
The day opened with a ceremonial welcome and an expanded family photograph, capturing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi Jinping, President Vladimir Putin, President Cyril Ramaphosa, President Masoud Pezeshkian and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi alongside invited leaders including President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan and President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia.
“From Files to Real-Life Impact”
In his concluding address, Prime Minister Modi set the tone for the day with a pointed, practical message. “We must translate all outcomes into time-bound actions that deliver last-mile impact,” he said, adding that the framework must move “beyond mere documentation” into tangible results. This wasn’t rhetorical flourish, it reflected a institutional challenge BRICS has faced before: producing ambitious declarations that don’t always translate into delivery. Prime Minister Modi also cautioned against the weaponisation of technology and critical minerals, calling instead for inclusive access and diversified supply chains, a message that carried particular resonance given ongoing global tensions over rare earth and chip supply restrictions.
The Four Pillars, Made Concrete
Day 2 offered a detailed accounting of what India’s chairship actually built. Under Resilience, the summit highlighted a BRICS Integrated Early Warning System for Infectious Diseases and a Logistics Supply Chain Cooperation Framework designed to protect trade routes from disruption. Under Innovation, Prime Minister Modi formally proposed a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund, backed by an existing Incubator Network, alongside a Digital Agriculture Network using AI and geospatial data to support smallholder farmers. Under Cooperation, the BRICS CONNECT platform and an MSME Cooperation Portal aim to widen participation beyond governments to entrepreneurs, workers and small businesses. Under Sustainability, a Digital Centre of Excellence for Smart Grids and new agro-ecology tracks rounded out the chairship’s practical legacy.
Jai Shroff, Chair of the BRICS Business Council and Avarna Jain, Chair of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, both presented implementation guides mapped directly to these four pillars, a welcome sign that private-sector leadership is being drawn into the follow-through rather than left on the sidelines.
Bilateral Diplomacy Across Continents
Alongside the plenary, Prime Minister Modi held a full slate of bilateral meetings. With President Tokayev of Kazakhstan, discussions centred on critical minerals, energy security and trade corridors linking India more firmly to Central Asia. With President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines, the focus turned to maritime security and a shared commitment to a stable, rules-based Indo-Pacific order. Meeting Vice President Jessica Rose Epel Alupo of Uganda, Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed India’s support for Uganda’s Vision 2040 development strategy, framing the partnership as a model for South-South cooperation. Separately, India’s Defence Secretary met Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of National Defence to advance defence industrial collaboration, with both sides agreeing to hold their next Defence Policy Dialogue alongside Aero India 2027.
Passing the Baton to China
The summit’s most symbolically significant moment came in its closing minutes, when Prime Minister Modi formally announced India’s support for China to assume the BRICS chairship for 2027 and host the 19th Summit. To ensure this transition doesn’t lose momentum, the presidency proposed institutionalising a BRICS Troika, linking outgoing chair Brazil, current chair India and incoming chair China, to oversee implementation timelines across chairship cycles. Given the complexity of the India-China relationship, this smooth, consensus-based handover, delivered alongside President Xi Jinping in the same plenary, was itself a quiet demonstration of the bloc’s institutional maturity.
What Day 2 Actually Achieved
Taken together, the day answered a fair criticism often levelled at multilateral summits: that grand declarations rarely translate into anything measurable. By pairing the New Delhi Declaration with named funds, named platforms and named frameworks, complete with a Business Council and Women’s Business Alliance already presenting implementation roadmaps, India’s chairship gave the bloc something more durable than good intentions.
What Remains to Be Worked Out
Some gaps remain. The Startup Innovation Fund has been proposed but its capitalisation and governance structure aren’t yet public. The Early Warning System for infectious diseases lacks a stated secretariat or data-sharing protocol. And as the chairship moves to China, the bloc will need to navigate real internal divergences, including India’s own caution about mineral and technology weaponisation, a theme that will inevitably test cohesion under the incoming presidency.
Looking Ahead
Day 2 closed the 18th Summit on a note of pragmatic optimism rather than pure ceremony. Prime Minister Modi’s closing words, “we may be rooted in different realities, but together, we rise through cooperation,” captured the balancing act India’s chairship attempted throughout: honouring the bloc’s genuine diversity while still pushing for shared, accountable delivery. Whether the Troika mechanism and the new pillar initiatives survive the transition to Beijing’s presidency will be the real measure of whether this summit’s practical ambitions outlast its declarations.
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