BRICS 2026: From Bigger to Better? New Delhi Summit May Focus on Trade, Tech and Energy
Source: The Economic Times | Original Published At: 2026-09-10 06:51:00 UTC
Key Points
- BRICS 2026 is scheduled for September 12-13 in New Delhi, with leaders from the 11 member states and 10 partner countries expected to participate.
- India’s chairship agenda emphasizes practical cooperation in trade, resilient supply chains, local-currency payments, startups, artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, energy, critical minerals, and climate finance.
- Proposed BRICS mechanisms include a Global Value Chains Action Plan for 2026-30, an invoice-discounting mechanism for MSMEs, a BRICS MSME Cooperation Portal, and a Logistics Supply-Chain Cooperation Framework.
- India is expected to promote national-currency settlement, payment interoperability, and possible linkage of digital currencies for cross-border trade and tourism, rather than a common BRICS currency.
- Technology-related proposals include a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund, a BRICS Incubator Network, a Digital Public Infrastructure Repository, and discussions on responsible AI and clean-energy technology transfer.
- Energy cooperation is expected to cover smart grids, energy storage, hydrogen, renewables, biofuels, carbon capture, digitalization, energy efficiency, and critical minerals.
- Geopolitical divisions may affect consensus, as a May BRICS foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi failed to produce a joint statement on the conflict in West Asia.