The BRICS Foreign Ministers met in New Delhi today, opening the two-day affair. These deliberations will be followed by the 18th BRICS summit in September. Prior to today’s opening session, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was called upon by, among others, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira. There are also representatives from newer BRICS members and partner countries—including Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Malaysia.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar opened the session and stated: “We meet at a time of considerable flux in international relations. Ongoing conflicts, economic uncertainties, and challenges in trade, technology, and climate are shaping the global landscape. There is a growing expectation, particularly from emerging markets and developing countries, that BRICS will play a constructive and stabilizing role.” He said that they should work toward “effective and coordinated responses” to geopolitical and economic uncertainty, centered in around the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
He added: “Continuing tensions, risks to maritime traffic, and disruptions to energy infrastructure highlight the fragility of the situation,” which undermines the region. He noted the “humanitarian implications” of the war in Gaza and the “continuing challenges” faced by Lebanon and Syria. BRICS members need to address “the increasing resort to unilateral coercive measures and sanctions... These unjustifiable measures cannot substitute dialogue, nor can pressure replace diplomacy.” And such actions “disproportionately affect eloping countries.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States of “bullying” and warned of the danger of “empires in decline... Those who pursue reckless adventures may believe it furthers their geopolitical interests. But as consumers and governments around the world now sense and understand, regional instability is a lose-lose proposition for all sides, including the aggressors... To virtually everyone in this room, our resistance against US bullying is not an unfamiliar battle. So many of us encounter slight variations of the same repugnant coercion.” He called for greater unity among BRICS nations, adding that it was “high time” for countries to coordinate more closely and make it clear that such practices “belong in the dustbin of history... History has shown that empires in decline will stop at nothing to arrest their inevitable fates. A wounded animal will desperately claw and roar on its way down.”
