The leaders of China, Iran and Russia are expected to participate in the Brics Summit to be hosted by India in September, which will be held against the backdrop of sharp differences between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to the West Asia conflict, people familiar with the matter said.
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Bilateral meetings on agenda
The participation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the summit to be held in New Delhi during September 12-13 will set up the possibility of bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the people familiar with preparations for the summit said.
India-China ties
If the visit by Xi goes ahead, it will be the first time that the Chinese President has travelled to India since October 2019, when he came to Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu for the second informal summit with Modi. Barely six months later, India-China relations hit a six-decade low over incursions by Chinese troops in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
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Recent diplomatic engagements
Modi and Xi met in the Russian city of Kazan in October 2024, soon after the two sides reached an understanding on ending the military standoff on the LAC, and they held bilateral talks most recently on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin last August.
Summit’s thematic focus
The Brics Summit, which is being hosted by India after a gap of five years, has the theme of “Building for resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability” and is set to be dominated by differences between Iran and the UAE, which became members of the grouping when it was expanded in January 2024.
Iran’s position in Summit
Barring the UAE, the members of the grouping have pushed back on any dilution of the language used in official documents to refer to the Palestine issue and a two-state solution, the people said. Pezeshkian’s participation is expected to give the Iranian side an opportunity to brief the Indian leadership on the West Asia crisis and explore ways to build bilateral relations, people said.
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Impact of sanctions on India-Iran ties
Bilateral ties have suffered since US sanctions stopped Indian purchases of Iranian oil in May 2019 and affected New Delhi’s participation in the development of Chabahar port last year. The Indian side will also have to help bridge differences between Iran and the UAE, which are on opposing sides of the West Asia conflict triggered by Israel and the US’s attacks on Iran in February.
Lack of consensus in previous meetings
Several Brics meetings, including the foreign ministers’ meeting in May, ended without consensus outcome documents due to differences over the West Asia conflict. The Indian side has also invited leaders of several non-Brics countries, such as Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, for the summit. Rahman has been invited as Bangladesh is the current chair of Bimstec, the people said.
