New Delhi, Sept. 10 -- As the 18th BRICS Summit approaches, bringing together world leaders in New Delhi on September 12-13, the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that will unfold may be just as meaningful as the official discussions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping amid ongoing geopolitical tensions and the complexities in West Asia. These efforts reflect India's desire to expand its strategic influence in a world that is increasingly divided, highlighting a hope for greater understanding and cooperation.
The first important meeting will be between Modi and Putin on September 11, one day before the official BRICS summit kicks off. The importance of the meeting stems from the fact that there is an array of issues on which Russia and India can engage. This includes bilateral economic relations, defence, and technological and energy cooperation. Russia has also announced its commitment to continue cooperating with India concerning arms supply, and discussions related to advanced technologies like the Su-57 fighter plane, reports suggest.
The Modi-Putin meeting would come at a very critical time for the global economy and energy sector. With the war raging in West Asia and the disturbances at the Strait of Hormuz, energy security and smooth trade corridors have become the key themes of international politics. Ensuring energy security and maintaining its strategic relationships would become significant issues for India.
The visit of Xi Jinping to Delhi adds another layer of strategic significance. The Chinese President is expected to arrive in India on September 12 for the BRICS Summit, which would be his first visit to India since 2019. This provides the Modi-Xi duo an excellent platform to move ahead with the process of stabilising Indo-China relations after years of military confrontations on the LAC.
A meeting between the Modi and Xi duo, therefore, is anticipated to attract a lot of attention. In addition to the issue of the boundary dispute, the discussion will also cover many other facets of their relationship such as trade, investment, visas, technology and people-to-people contact. While some efforts have been made recently in order to improve ties, there is still much mistrust regarding security and economic concerns. According to Reuters, regulatory obstacles, investment limits and difficulties with visas and technology prevent any progress in bilateral relations. The importance of Modi-Xi interaction lies not only in the aspect of bilateral relations between India and China. The two countries are also two of the most powerful players in the enlarged BRICS group, and their cooperation or management of conflicts may determine the efficiency of the group.
The summit is also being held against the backdrop of differences within the expanded group of BRICS members concerning the West Asia crisis. Iran, which joined BRICS in 2024, is party to the West Asia crisis, while the United Arab Emirates is one of the members of the expanded group. The war and the disruption of the flow of goods via the Strait of Hormuz have made it difficult for the bloc to present a united front regarding global issues.
Given this context, meetings between Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and others are also likely to receive a lot of coverage. For India, Iran is important not just because of West Asia but also due to connectivity initiatives like Chabahar and India's engagement with Central Asia.
Other foreign dignitaries like Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and President of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto, are also expected to offer opportunities for bilateral engagements with Modi. However, an official list of the bilateral meetings of the Prime Minister has not yet been made public, and some of these encounters will most likely be in an informal format.
Expansion of BRICS has made the diplomatic situation much more complicated. With 11 members in the group, the group now comprises large emerging nations with different interests. The task that India has to accomplish in its capacity as the chair of BRICS is to build a consensus on various matters such as global governance reforms, energy security, technology, trade, and many others.
As a result, the meeting in Delhi is unlikely to be simply about the BRICS declaration itself. Indeed, especially the bilateral meetings between Modi and Putin, and Modi and Xi, could well come to mark India's foreign policy balancing act-of nurturing its longstanding strategic alliance with Russia while competing and cooperating with China, as well as cultivating relationships in the Global South, all at once.
As such, the sides of the meeting might be just as diplomatically important as the actual summit itself.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.