India overcomes biggest Brics challenge. Will joint statement lean away from US?

Eleven Brics members have found one voice, at least at the negotiating table.

Brics members have agreed on a joint declaration that is unlikely to name any country but will condemn unilateral war by any nation, sources told Reuters on Saturday. The formulation appears designed to bridge the positions of Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which are on the opposing sides of the US-Israel war in the Middle East.

The agreement is a diplomatic victory for India, which is hosting the 18th Brics Summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13. In fact, a jojnt declaration was the biggest doplomatic challenge for New Delhi.

The Brics leaders are expected to approve the declaration on Saturday, according to Reuters. But the precise wording will reveal how the grouping has addressed the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, Iranian attacks on the UAE and calls by Russia and Iran for language critical of Washington. It will also show whether India has succeeded in keeping Brics within its preferred formulation of being "non-Western but not anti-Western".

Brics began as a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India and China before South Africa joined in 2010. Indonesia joined later, and Saudi Arabia's membership has been publicly confirmed by India.

The expanded Brics represents around half the global population and 40% of the world economy. But its greater weight has come with varied political interests, competing relationships and geopolitical disputes.

South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman had warned that Brics expansion made it "more likely that the group will be ineffective", with the Iran war and demands for language "very critical of the United States" making consensus increasingly difficult.

The reported agreement on the Delhi Declaration does not eliminate those differences. It shows how Brics has negotiated around them.HOW INDIA BRIDGED THE IRAN-UAE DIVIDE AT BRICS

Brics Sherpas, the senior officials responsible for negotiating the declaration, had spent days trying to bridge the disagreement between Iran and the UAE.

Tehran wanted the document to explicitly condemn the US-Israeli attacks against it and refer to violations of the UN Charter. The UAE, meanwhile, wanted the statement to acknowledge attacks on its territory and sovereignty by Iran. Abu Dhabi has also rejected Iranian allegations concerning its role in the war.

Representatives of the member countries have now produced a consensus declaration, Reuters reported. The document is unlikely to identify any country but will condemn unilateral war by any nation.

The broader language appears to give Iran a condemnation of unilateral military action without requiring the UAE, India and other members to endorse Tehran's account of the conflict. It could also enable the UAE to interpret the references to sovereignty and unilateral attacks as covering strikes against its territory.

"Stakes are very high here," a person familiar with the negotiations had told The New Indian Express earlier this week, adding that efforts were being made "at every level, including at the political level" to reach an agreement.

The compromise demonstrates how consensus often works within Brics. Differences might not have been resolved. Instead, negotiators found a language broad enough for every member to retain its position while signing the same document.

The final text, however, will determine whether India's balance has produced a substantive common position.BRICS FOREIGN MINISTERS FAILED ON JOINT STATEMENT IN MAY

India had already received a warning about the difficulty of producing a joint declaration. Brics foreign ministers met in New Delhi in May but failed to agree on a joint statement because of divisions over the US-Israel-Iran war. India, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the grouping this year, issued a chair's statement and an outcome document instead, recording that members had expressed their respective positions.

The disagreement centred on Iran and the UAE, both admitted during the recent expansion. The positions could not be reconciled sufficiently for all members to endorse one document.

The failure did not end cooperation within Brics, but it showed how a conflict involving two members could paralyse its consensus mechanism. A foreign ministers' meeting could conclude with a chair's statement. A leaders' summit ending without a Delhi Declaration would have been a far more visible embarrassment for India.

The reported agreement suggests that Indian negotiators have avoided a repeat of that deadlock. Getting all 11 leaders to approve the declaration would allow New Delhi to present the consensus itself as an important diplomatic achievement.

China, meanwhile, has said the expanded Brics is turning its diversity into momentum for cooperation across trade, finance, agriculture, industry, artificial intelligence, climate action and health.NEW BRICS MEMBERS MAGNIFIED AN OLD PROBLEM

The inability of Brics to reach consensus did not begin with the Iran war. At the Brics foreign ministers' meeting in Rio de Janeiro in April 2025, members also failed to produce a joint communique. That disagreement reportedly involved language concerning reform of the UN Security Council and the aspirations of Brazil, India and South Africa for a greater role, including permanent membership.

Egypt and Ethiopia objected to formulations they believed endorsed the Security Council bids of only those three Brics countries. Brazil consequently issued a chair's statement, even though members broadly agreed on issues such as opposing trade protectionism, Reuters reported earlier this week.

The episode exposed the basic complication created by expansion. New members added population, economic weight and influence, but also brought their diplomatic red lines and regional disputes.

Iran and the UAE are now on opposing sides of a regional war. Egypt and Ethiopia have been divided over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile. Saudi Arabia and the UAE cooperate closely but have competing regional interests. India and China, big trading partners, have a history of border tensions and strategic rivalry.

There is also no uniform view of what Brics should become. India and Brazil generally project it as a development-oriented platform seeking reform of global institutions. Russia and China are more willing to use it as a counterweight to Western power, while several members retain crucial economic or security relationships with the United States.

Indian Air Force veteran Air Marshal Sanjeev Kapoor (retired) explained this contradiction in a post on X on Thursday.

"Brics is a political and diplomatic coordination forum for the Global South. It has no treaty, no permanent secretariat and decisions are based on consensus," he wrote.

"Its members can be competitors, rivals and even adversaries and still cooperate where their interests meet," he added.WILL BRICS DELHI SUMMIT DECLARATION LEAN AGAINST THE US?

The US factor remains important even after negotiators have agreed on a document.

Kugelman had identified it as one of India's two specific challenges, alongside the Iran-UAE dispute. Russia, Iran and possibly China, he said, would seek language "very critical of America".

India and some other members would resist such wording because they wanted to safeguard their relationships with Washington, Kugelman said. This was particularly important for India as it pursued delicate negotiations with the US towards a trade agreement.

The Delhi Declaration will also follow the SCO's Bishkek Declaration, which criticised the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran and Western sanctions. It was issued on September 1, not even a fortnight ago. Whether Brics adopts similarly direct language or avoids naming countries will indicate how far the grouping is willing to challenge Washington.

Speaking to Rajdeep Sardesai on India Today TV, economist Jeffrey Sachs said the Brics should tell the US to end the war against Iran. He also advocated a multi-currency payment system that could blunt Washington's ability to impose unilateral sanctions.

A counterpoint comes from Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks in October 2024. Attributing the formulation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Putin said, "Brics is not an anti-Western group; it is a non-Western group."

The formula reported by Reuters appears to walk that narrow line. Condemning unilateral war without naming the US, Israel, Iran or any other country would allow Brics to address the war without turning the declaration into a direct attack on Washington.WHAT THE DELHI DECLARATION OF BRICS WILL REVEAL

India's official theme for its Brics presidency is "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability". The summit agenda includes health, food and energy security, supply chains, startups, artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, climate action and reform of global governance institutions.

These subjects offer areas in which members can find common ground. The real test lies in paragraphs concerning wars, sovereignty, sanctions, international order and the US.

India appears to have passed the first test by preventing the Iran-UAE divide from blocking the declaration. The second lies in what the document actually says and what it leaves unsaid.

Its treatment of the Gulf War and the US' unilateral military action will reveal whether New Delhi has kept Brics within its preferred diplomatic space. For India, getting 11 members to sign the same document is an achievement. Getting them to mean the same thing would be a much bigger one.- EndsPublished By: Sushim MukulPublished On: Sep 12, 2026 15:00 IST