BRICS Leaders Adopt New Delhi Declaration at 18th Summit

Leaders of the BRICS nations convened in New Delhi from 12 to 13 September 2026 for the group's 18th summit, held under the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability." The two-day meeting concluded with the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration.

In the declaration, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the BRICS spirit of mutual respect and understanding, sovereign equality, solidarity, democracy, openness, inclusiveness, collaboration and consensus. Marking two decades of BRICS and its recent expansion, they pledged to deepen cooperation across three pillars — political and security, economic and financial, and cultural and people-to-people ties — and to strengthen the grouping's strategic partnership through the promotion of peace, a more representative international order, a reformed multilateral system, sustainable development and inclusive growth.

The leaders acknowledged the contribution of Partner countries to BRICS cooperation and expressed confidence that advancing the partnership with Emerging Markets and Developing Countries (EMDCs) would reinforce solidarity and international cooperation. They encouraged greater participation by Partner countries in BRICS engagements and practical cooperation in areas of shared interest, and commended India for hosting the Outreach/BRICS Plus Dialogue segment of the summit.

India's chairship in 2026 drew praise for progress on the summit's thematic priorities, with the leaders committing to strengthen capacities, promote innovation and advance sustainable development and resilience. They welcomed the more than four hundred meetings and engagements held at the level of ministers, parliamentarians, heads of agencies, officials, experts, businesses and people across thirty Indian cities under the BRICS framework, crediting these with enhancing collective resilience, innovation-driven growth, people-to-people exchanges and the group's voice in global governance.

On global governance, the leaders reiterated their push for a more just, equitable, effective, representative and accountable international system, stressing the need to adapt the architecture of international relations to contemporary realities. They reaffirmed support for multilateralism and multipolarity, with the United Nations Charter as the indispensable cornerstone of the international system and the UN at its centre.

The declaration calls for greater and more meaningful participation of EMDCs and Least Developed Countries, especially from Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, in global decision-making. It seeks equitable geographical representation in the UN Secretariat and other international organisations, including at senior and decision-making levels, and a larger role for women from developing countries in leadership. The leaders stressed that the selection of UN executive heads and senior officials should follow principles of transparency and inclusiveness, in line with Article 101 of the UN Charter, and that no state or group of states should monopolise senior UN posts. They also criticised attempts to undermine multilateral institutions, including through the deliberate withholding of assessed contributions.

Noting the ongoing selection process for the next UN Secretary-General, the leaders observed that no woman has ever held the position, and that only one national from Latin America and the Caribbean, and two each from Africa and Asia, have ever occupied it.

The declaration highlights the importance of the Global South as a driver of positive change amid geopolitical tensions, economic downturns, technological shifts, protectionist measures, migration challenges and climate change. It states that BRICS will continue to voice the concerns and priorities of the Global South and promote a stable international order based on international law.

The leaders also welcomed the adoption of UN General Assembly Resolution 80/250, which declares the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity, and advocated the full implementation of Resolution 79/115 of December 2024 to eradicate colonialism in all its forms. They reiterated the need to intensify the fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, related intolerance and discrimination based on religion, faith or belief, including rising hate speech and disinformation.