Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the 18th BRICS Summit with a reflective yet ambitious address, framing India’s chairship around what he called a people-centric, humanity-first approach anchored in four priorities: resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability. He noted that this focus had translated into real outreach on the ground, with India hosting over 350 meetings across nearly 30 cities through the course of its chairship, and he thanked partner nations for their support in making the year a success.
Framing BRICS at 20
Much of Modi’s speech leaned on the symbolism of the bloc’s 20th anniversary. He compared BRICS’s current stage to a young adult stepping into maturity — a phase where responsibility and ambition begin to take shape together. In two decades, he said, BRICS has built a distinct identity on the world stage by respecting the perspectives of each member and moving forward through consensus rather than confrontation. He was careful to stress that the grouping isn’t positioned against any other bloc or country, but is instead trying to advance collectively with everyone. The moment, he argued, calls for converting that accumulated unity and consensus into tangible outcomes — and for setting a more ambitious agenda for the next 20 years.
Fixing BRICS’s own machinery first
Before looking outward, Modi said BRICS needed to address its internal working systems. Since the chairship rotates annually, he warned that institutional momentum can stall between presidencies. To fix this, he proposed a continuity and implementation mechanism built around the Troika structure — the outgoing, current, and incoming chairs — to track initiatives and outcomes over time. He also floated the idea of a secure digital repository that would let members monitor the nodal point, timeline, and implementation status of every decision taken by the bloc.
The case for reforming global governance
Modi then turned to what he described as a lopsided global governance structure — one shaped like a pyramid, where decision-making power sits at the top while the countries most affected by global crises, largely from the Global South, remain excluded from shaping the response. He called for reshaping that pyramid into a partnership platform where every nation has a voice.
To that end, he proposed that BRICS jointly draft ten proposals for global governance reform, to be developed into a full “BRICS reform roadmap” ahead of the next summit. He framed this roadmap around three pillars:
- Representation — pushing for time-bound UN Security Council reform, and aligning voting power and leadership in financial institutions with today’s economic realities.
- Responsiveness — ensuring institutions deliver on speed, scale, and “last-mile impact.” As a concrete example, he proposed a Seafarers’ Emergency Support Network linking maritime authorities and diplomatic missions to assist with distress alerts, medical aid, family notification, and evacuations.
- Rule-making — ensuring equal participation in setting rules for emerging domains like AI, cyberspace, outer space, and biotechnology, so the Global South shifts from being a “rule-taker” to a “rule-shaper,” with BRICS offering young diplomats from these nations a platform for training and negotiation experience.
He closed by tying the moment to the UN Day for South-South Cooperation, framing India’s proposals as part of a broader shift: from voice to impact, and from privilege to partnership.
