The 18th BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi, India, on September 1213. Heightened churn in the world order is accentuating the tilt away from the U.S.-led hegemonist and imperialist political West and toward the developing world and the World Majority. In this context, a summit of an international organization involving some of the most powerful stakeholders of the latter group can be expected to seek to cement their gains and accelerate the process further.

After all, less than two weeks ago, the Bishkek Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, another major international organization created by many of the same World Majority leaders, inter alia condemned U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iran as violations of international law and the resulting damage and civilian casualties, expressed support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran, condemned Israel’s attacks on Palestine, called for a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian question, and backed Iran’s right to pursue nuclear energy as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

If the Indian media is to be believed, the BRICS 2026 summit was a stunning success.  Chief among the points it highlighted about the summit are the following. Modi got President Xi to attend. The BRICS summit included a meeting between Modi and Xi. The Malaysian Prime Minister sang Bollywood songs. Modi engineered a three-way handshake with Putin and Xi, placing India shoulder to shoulder with these giants. Finally, the summit ended with a declaration signed by all members, including the two mutually hostile countries, Iran and the UAE.

However, the reality was more complex. By taking time out of his busy schedule for this visit, President Xi undoubtedly underscored the priority China attaches to sound ties with India. There was also the ambitious agenda he has already prepared for 2027, when he takes over as chair. Announcing it in New Delhi would kick things off to a good start. Notwithstanding the issues with which the Sino-Indian diplomatic in-tray teems, Xi’s discussion with Modi lasted 45 minutes. The readouts on either side noted no major departure from the slow and steady effort to rebuild relations after their deterioration culminated in the 2020 Galwan Valley border clashes. As for bonhomie, whether of songs or handshakes, it does not equal diplomatic breakthroughs.

The final declaration, it was widely acknowledged, contained little new. There were repetitions of long-standing themes of previous declarations including demands for reform of international governance, promotion of intra-BRICs trade, condemnation of wars and civilian casualties in general with no aggressor mentioned, opposition to unilateral sanctions, pleas for diplomacy and a motley crew of commitments to practical cooperation, from health to illicit financial flows. This was put down to the difficulty posed by the current tensions between Iran and the UAE.  

Was that the main problem, however? Iran and the UAE may have recently come to blows but they have also had among the deepest and broadest trade and economic relationships in recent times. Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan, representing the UAE, and Dr Masoud Pezeshkian, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit, reiterating the need for a political solution to the conflict in West Asia. If that were not enough, Iran had announced the day before the BRICS summit that it as going to meet Persian Gulf states to promote better understanding and help strengthen shared regional security. The declaration also failed to condemn Israel for its actions against Palestine.  

The content of the declaration likely had more to do with the Modi government’s tendency, perhaps encouraged by India’s powerful corporate capitalist class, which, unlike medium and small businesses, the backbone of India’s economy inclined to do business with China, is used to conducting business chiefly with the U.S. and the West, to pursue a foreign policy of projecting itself as a great power, against available evidence.   

The foreign policy of the Modi government is self contradictory: it pursues “multi alignment” while claiming to uphold an “autonomous foreign policy.” Rather than working with other BRICS countries on a plane of mutual respect and cooperation, the Modi government tends to see it more as a platform from which to catapult itself into the league of the world’s great powers. Rather than seeking the collective uplift and development of the sort that the people of India sorely need, and as befits this great and ancient nation, the current government often seems to seek proximity, or even subservience, to the U.S..  

As one of the principal architects of non-alignment in the era of decolonization, the Republic of India has a tradition of innovating foreign policy for development. Given this, notwithstanding the errors of previous governments, there was much progress in China-India relations. Previous governments could agree to give border disputes a back seat in favor of pursuing a progressive developmentalist agenda in cooperation with China, though they could be faulted for not changing domestic political discourse on China-India relations to match their practice.  

All is hardly lost, however. Domestically, the people of India desire nothing more than development and their pressure will certainly be pushing their government back to a developmentalist agenda, which today involves participating in the larger developmentalist agenda China proposes. This necessarily involves better China-India relations. And better relations among two countries representing a third of humanity can only be a good thing.  

Against the backdrop of a relative decline in Western global influence, Xi, in his remarks at the summit, gave an excellent idea of the ambitious developmentalist agenda, with which he will exploit the opportunities for advancing developing world and World Majority interests available in the twilight of Western power. Calling for a world order based on equal rules and without double standards, he proposed five initiatives covering open-source and inclusive AI, trade and investment facilitation, digital industry cooperation, intelligent manufacturing cooperation, and science and technology talent cultivation. 

China has taken the lead in building a dedicated BRICS AI open-source zone to foster an open global AI ecosystem. All BRICS member states may leverage digital technological advantages to strengthen policy consultation and coordination, and expand cooperation channels for goods trade, service trade and diverse economic activities. Upholding the principle of open cooperation, BRICS countries will further enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges, especially among younger generations. 

Nothing is more important than expanding the productive powers of members countries, and doing so on the basis of the best available technology. Building productive economies, rather than financialized ones on the model of today’s West, will be among the most important developmental priorities for BRICS.  

Radhika Desai is a political economist, scholar, and public intellectual. She is a Professor of Political Economy and Director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Center at the University of Manitoba, Canada. She is the author of monographs including Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire (2013) and Capitalism, Covid and War: Geopolitical Economy (2022).