Showy summitry

Outcomes of the Brics summit exceeded expectations

The pomp and circumstances around the 18th Brics summit in New Delhi surpassed the modest expectations from the meet, which India hosted for the fourth time. The adoption of the declaration itself must be regarded as the key diplomatic accomplishment, with Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on opposite sides of the United States-led war in West Asia, backing down from their disagreements. This enabled the group to unanimously adopt the New Delhi Declaration. By framing the final text in neutral language, which refrained from mentioning the United States (US) and Israeli attacks on Iran or Tehran’s attacks on Gulf neighbours — and also Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the statement adroitly navigated dire diplomatic straits. It spoke instead in relatively anodyne terms of the need for “exercising maximum restraint and avoiding action that could further aggravate the situation”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to leaders emphasising the “coming of age” of this group of emerging economies played its part in avoiding any anti-West connotations. Coming just weeks after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, this message was critical to those economies, India included, that are in the throes of tricky trade or bilateral talks with the US or Europe. 

The fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping attended — in contrast to his conspicuous absence from the G20 meet that India hosted in 2023 — must also be viewed as a great leap forward in cooperative diplomacy between the two largest economies of Brics. Coming soon after critical flag meetings between corps commanders of both countries in Arunachal Pradesh, the visibly conciliatory language the two leaders deployed strengthened hopes of a reset. Mr Xi spoke of “complementing each other’s strengths” despite many differences. Mr Modi underlined the need for both sides to observe “existing agreements and understandings on border-related issues”. Brics and forums like it certainly serve as enablers for such meetings. Nevertheless, expectations from this high-profile summit need to be tempered by the past experience of China’s actions on the ground. Although both leaders spoke in general terms of enhancing cultural exchanges and business links, the real test of this meet will depend on how far Beijing and New Delhi are prepared to accommodate meaningful cooperation in trade and investment. 

Despite an exhaustive listing of cooperative initiatives in the New Delhi Declaration — from technology to climate change, health, education and culture — the hopes for what the grouping can achieve over the medium to long run should be restrained. This is as much the result of the widely varying sizes of the member-nations’ economies as it is of the nature of their political systems and geopolitical goals. Beyond representing the Global South — with 11 full members and 10 partner countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America — discernible gains from the grouping are hard to identify. The New Development Bank, the most visible institution of cooperation, remains small in scale and dependent on the western financial system; ironically, it had to suspend loans to founding member Russia after sanctions were imposed in 2022. Efforts to develop an alternative currency to the dollar have also foundered, both because of US President Donald Trump’s threats and the growing traction of alternative China-led payment systems. All told, Brics remains a benign grouping in search of an objective.