BRICS Foreign Ministers & NSAs to meet this month to deliberate on AI; payment mechanism & international security

Foreign ministers and national security advisors (NSAs) of 11 BRICS members will meet later this month in Brazil to firm up and fine-tune the agenda for the July summit with focus on artificial intelligence, climate finance, cross-border payments initiative and reforms of multilateral institutions.

The BRICS summit is expected to adopt a document on artificial intelligence that is in line with multilateral approach and a document on climate finance, it has been learnt

The summit will also delve into a BRICS cross-border payments initiative (non-SWIFT mechanism); BRICS Bridge (digital payment); international hot spots; international security; reforms of multilateral institutions and priorities of the Global South.


The foreign ministers meeting expected on April 28-29 will focus on international hotspots across the globe including in Ukraine and West Asia, it has been learnt. The NSAs meeting on April 30 will focus on cross-border terror among other issues.

The 12 BRICS partner countries drafted last year are expected to join both at the foreign ministers' meeting as well as the summit.

The BRICS Bridge was mooted by Russia during its presidency of the grouping last year with a view to establishing a digital platform to facilitate financial transactions between the group’s member countries, but is yet to be consolidated, according to people familiar with the BRICS.

The BRICS cross-border payments initiative, which is voluntary and non-binding, encourages the strengthening of correspondent banking networks between BRICS countries and allows settlement in local currencies.

Created in 2020, the BRICS Payments Task Force works on developing principles for innovative payments, with a focus on security and reducing transaction costs, according to people familiar with the process.

Current BRICS president Brazil actively participates in this task force, which includes discussions on various payment initiatives within BRICS, such as BRICS cross-border payments initiative, BRICS Bridge and BRICS Pay.