India’s BRICS Presidency gathers momentum with key Ministerial meets early August

India will host key ministerial meetings as part of its BRICS presidency over the next two weeks, in the run-up to the summit in Delhi on September 12-13 which will see participation of the Presidents of Russia and China among other leaders.

Four ministerial meetings—pertaining to trade and investment, finance and central bank governors, culture and statistics--will be held in different cities of northern and central India ahead of the summit, according to people familiar with the matter.

Over the past month there has been a flurry of BRICS ministerial meetings, including those of energy and health ministers of the 11-member grouping, which is named after the first letters of its original founding member countries Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa added later.


Trade and investment and finance ministers will meet at a time when BRICS member states are keen to boost trade in national currencies among themselves and navigate tariffs and unilateral sanctions besides push for reforms of multilateral financial institutions, said the people cited earlier.

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BRICS has been of the view that there is an urgent need to reform the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to make them more agile, effective, inclusive, unbiased, accountable, and representative towards enhancing their legitimacy and credibility.

In May, the BRICS foreign ministers acknowledged during their meeting that members of the grouping represent a broad diversity of societies and civilisations which are affected differently by unjustified unilateral protectionist measures inconsistent with World Trade Organization rules and that BRICS should focus on promoting a just and fair, stable and predictable environment for mutually beneficial sustainable development.

The foreign ministers, including the Chinese representative, emphasised on the importance of creating more resilient, reliable and stable supply chains, and they agreed that BRICS should work towards broader and more equitable participation of developing economies in higher-value added segments of global manufacturing and production, including through trade and investment initiatives, industrial cooperation, development of complementary production capacities and technology transfer on mutually agreed terms based on national priorities. These initiatives will contribute to economic resilience and help mitigate the impacts of multiple economic disruptions, according to the BRICS foreign ministers.

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The foreign ministers condemned the imposition of unilateral coercive measures that are contrary to international law and reiterated that such measures, in the form of unilateral economic sanctions and secondary sanctions, have far-reaching negative implications for human rights, including the rights to development, health and food security, of the general population of targeted states, disproportionately affecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations, deepening the digital divide and exacerbating environmental challenges.