Overview
- Leaders meeting Saturday in New Delhi adopted a unanimous joint declaration that urged "maximum restraint" in the Middle East, called for protection of civilians and critical infrastructure, and explicitly rejected unilateral sanctions contrary to international law.
- The summit kept security of trade and energy routes central, noting risks to the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el Mandeb and urging measures to protect shipping and global supply chains.
- Participants discussed concrete steps to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar—proposals include using national currencies for intra‑BRICS trade, connecting central bank digital currencies and New Development Bank instruments—but those ideas remain at the planning stage and are not operational.
- India used its role as host to balance ties with Russia, China, Iran and the West: Narendra Modi held bilateral meetings with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping while Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stayed home and sent his foreign minister.
- Finance ministers and central bank governors earlier in Mumbai pressed for IMF and World Bank reform and warned of elevated global risks, positioning the New Development Bank to play a larger role if members can overcome technical and political hurdles to implementation.