BRICS summit promotes cooperation, closer China-India ties

BRICS leaders meeting in New Delhi called for stronger multilateral cooperation and reforms to global governance, while talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored efforts to improve bilateral relations, China Daily reported.

Xi concluded his visit to India on Sunday after attending the summit and meeting Modi for their third consecutive year of bilateral talks. Their previous meetings took place in Kazan, Russia, in 2024 and Tianjin, China, in 2025.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the visit as an engagement with Global South countries, following Xi’s trips to Central Asia and the Middle East earlier this month.

Marking the 20th anniversary of BRICS cooperation, Xi urged members to strengthen collaboration on innovation, peace and stability, cultural exchanges and global governance reform.

He proposed five initiatives covering artificial intelligence, trade and investment facilitation, digital industry, intelligent manufacturing and talent development.

India’s secretary for economic relations, Sudhakar Dalela, said leaders broadly agreed on strengthening multilateralism and making international institutions more representative, inclusive and responsive.

Lawrence Loh, director of the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore’s Business School, said the expanded BRICS grouping offered plans benefiting countries beyond its membership.

“Global development cannot be based on a zero-sum game mentality where development is pursued at the expense of others,” he said.

Swaran Singh, a former international relations professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said Xi’s proposals overlapped with India’s priorities on technology, resilient supply chains and greater Global South influence.

China will assume the grouping’s rotating presidency for the fourth time next year.

The Xi-Modi meeting also focused on the direction of relations between the neighbors, whose combined population exceeds 2.8 billion.

Wang said the leaders discussed strategic and long-term issues and agreed that China and India should be partners. He pointed to expanding cooperation, record bilateral trade and more active exchanges between their populations as signs of improvement.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said both leaders welcomed progress since their Tianjin meeting and reaffirmed the importance of a strategic, long-term approach.

“Differences should not become disputes,” the ministry said.

Wang argued that improving relations would benefit both countries and strengthen cooperation across the Global South.

He urged both sides to implement the leaders’ agreements and consolidate recent gains, saying their relationship carried implications for regional stability and global development beyond bilateral interests. Each country’s development, he added, offered opportunities for the other. MDT