New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS): In a “major diplomatic breakthrough”, despite sharply divergent geopolitical positions among members, BRICS countries have reached consensus on a Joint Statement which is expected to be released later on Saturday on the first day of the 18th BRICS Summit being hosted by India at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
According to sources, India led sustained consultations and intensive negotiations from Friday till as late as 4 AM Saturday, making efforts to bridge competing positions and build consensus among members.
“The negotiations saw differences on several contentious issues. India led sustained consultations to bridge competing positions and build consensus among members. The breakthrough assumes particular significance given that Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are all part of the same forum, despite deep differences and competing positions on several regional and geopolitical issues,” a source mentioned.
“Against the backdrop of ongoing conflicts and heightened tensions in West Asia, securing consensus among countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE presented a particularly complex diplomatic challenge. India’s diplomatic prowess ensured that these differences did not derail the BRICS process, paving the way for a consensus Joint Statement despite sharply divergent geopolitical positions among member countries,” the source added.
Experts continue to hail India’s BRICS chairship considering how New Delhi has successfully navigated historic BRICS deadlock amid ongoing global conflicts.
Amid escalating tensions between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the BRICS ministerial summit held in the national capital in May concluded without issuing a customary joint statement for the first time in the bloc’s history.
Instead, India had released only a Chair’s Statement and Outcome Document after deep divisions between Iran and the UAE prevented consensus among member nations.
All this while, India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have backed pursuing dialogue and diplomacy to resolve conflicts while highlighting at the same time that this is not an era of war and solution will not emerge from the battlefield.
At the same time, just like it during its G20 Presidency, BRICS chair India batted strongly to push interests of the Global South without turning the grouping anti-West.
“BRICS is also where India’s balancing act faces its toughest test. It remains contested terrain. The expansion of the grouping, resisted by both India and Brazil, has made consensus harder. Beneath the larger membership lies a familiar divide: India and Brazil largely see BRICS as an economic platform, while China and Russia see it as a geopolitical one,” a recent report in Australia-based ‘The Interpreter’ detailed.
It noted that India views itself as a reformist power rather than a revisionist one, pushing for a greater role in global governance, a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and more influence over financial and technological rulemaking. It seeks to alter parts of the international order while preserving a system that has been central to its own rise.
