UN Chief Antonio Guterres to participate in 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi

The 18th BRICS Summit scheduled for September 12-13, 2025, at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi marks a significant milestone in India's diplomatic calendar and its leadership role within the Global South. As the current chair of BRICS for 2025, India's hosting of this summit continues a trajectory of enhanced multilateral engagement that began with the grouping's inception in 2009. BRICS — originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — has evolved from an economic acronym coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 into a formidable geopolitical bloc representing over 40% of the world's population and approximately 30% of global GDP. The 2024 expansion to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates as new members has further amplified its representativeness, making the 2025 summit the first to convene with this enlarged membership. The confirmed participation of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres adds substantial weight to the summit's agenda, signaling the United Nations' recognition of BRICS as a critical platform for reforming global governance architecture. Guterres' presence aligns with his consistent advocacy for multilateralism reform, particularly regarding the UN Security Council — a cause India has championed for decades as a G4 nation (alongside Brazil, Germany, and Japan) seeking permanent membership. India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has repeatedly emphasized that BRICS is not an anti-Western bloc but a platform for the Global South to articulate shared developmental priorities, including reform of international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank where voting rights remain skewed toward advanced economies. From India's constitutional perspective, Article 51 of the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV of the Constitution) mandates that the State shall endeavor to promote international peace and security, maintain just and honorable relations between nations, foster respect for international law, and encourage settlement of international disputes by arbitration. Hosting the BRICS Summit directly operationalizes this constitutional directive. Furthermore, Article 253 empowers Parliament to make laws for implementing international agreements — relevant as BRICS initiatives like the New Development Bank (NDB), headquartered in Shanghai with a regional office in Gujarat's GIFT City, require domestic legislative frameworks for operationalization. The choice of Bharat Mandapam as the venue carries symbolic significance — it hosted the historic G20 Summit in September 2023 where India secured consensus on the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration, including the landmark inclusion of the African Union as a permanent G20 member. This continuity reinforces India's institutional memory and diplomatic infrastructure for hosting high-stakes multilateral events. Economically, the summit provides a platform to advance BRICS' de-dollarization initiatives, including local currency trade settlements and the potential development of a BRICS payment system — crucial for India's energy imports from Russia and trade with China amid Western sanctions regimes. Politically, the summit strengthens India's balancing act between competing geopolitical alignments: its strategic partnership with the United States (Quad, I2U2, Critical and Emerging Technology Initiative) and its historical ties with Russia, while managing a complex relationship with China. The BRICS format allows India to engage China in a multilateral setting where Beijing's dominance is diluted by collective decision-making. Socially, BRICS cooperation in areas like traditional medicine (AYUSH), digital public infrastructure (India's UPI and CoWIN models), and skill development resonates with domestic priorities under initiatives like Atmanirbhar Bharat and Digital India. Looking ahead, the 2025 summit will likely set the agenda for Brazil's chairmanship in 2026, focusing on institutionalizing BRICS+ outreach mechanisms, operationalizing the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), and advancing the NDB's lending in local currencies. For competitive exam aspirants, this summit encapsulates the intersection of international relations, economic diplomacy, constitutional mandates, and India's evolving global leadership — a microcosm of the multidimensional analysis required in contemporary governance and foreign policy questions.