“The Global South rises, not against anyone, but in favor of everyone,” proclaimed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this Saturday at the Brics group summit in New Delhi. A meeting in which the eleven full members managed to unanimously agree on a text, despite tensions among some of them.
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The “New Delhi Declaration,” in its 45 pages and 140 articles, is particularly reassuring for one of its members, Iran, by condemning any “unilateral act of war.” Without naming any belligerent, it calls to avoid any action that could worsen the situation in the Middle East.”
The summit not only brought together, for the second time in less than two weeks, the leaders of Russia, China, and India, but also the president of Iran, Masud Pezeshkian, with the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates.
“Our target was always U.S. military facilities,” declared Pezeshkian, “not Emirati targets.”
Months after Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from 60 United Nations bodies, the eleven Brics members reiterated this weekend their commitment to the “reformed” organization.
Putin – who arrived a day earlier – said in fact that “the UN Charter must remain the touchstone of international relations, against those who seek to undermine it.” Among whom, apparently, he is not included.
In another gesture towards India, the text not only condemns terrorism in general but also the specific massacre last year in Pahalgam, Kashmir.
Unanimity
The Declaration speaks out against the forced displacement of Palestinians
In another matter, the declaration defends “navigation security” and emphasizes “the need to maintain the flow of global trade and energy and supply chains, in accordance with legality.” It also abhors tariff wars and calls to strengthen the World Trade Organization.
The concern goes beyond the war in Iran, warning of “the growing risk of nuclear conflict.”
Although new members such as Ethiopia, Indonesia, or Egypt have been represented by their respective presidents, the focus has been on those of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
The latter, who had not set foot in India for seven years – landed at noon on Saturday, after a busy week – chatted with Modi for 50 minutes. “We can develop jointly,” he told him. According to the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both countries agreed to work towards “a mutually acceptable resolution” of their border dispute.
The declaration also opposes the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and condemns “deliberate attacks against civilian infrastructure,” among which it includes “peaceful nuclear facilities.”
Personally, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa demanded accountability for the “ongoing genocide against Palestinians” and the “illegal war against Iran.”
All this increases the feeling that the big winner of the meeting is the Tehran regime, with its president shaking hands with three nuclear powers. As in fact, he already did 15 days ago in Kyrgyzstan, where Pakistan was also present.
Furthermore, the representation of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates – although of lower rank – indicates that Iran is in a position of strength. Even more so after the latest raid by its Houthi allies, who have swept the Yemeni coast of the Red Sea up to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Where there has been no progress under Indian presidency is in the Brics currency project, not even as a virtual basket. Any advance is left for the next edition, in China.
But Modi has already come out ahead, by presenting India on the scales. His summit continues on Sunday. But a Narendra Modi with Bob Dylan airs set the tone this Saturday, between Putin and Xi, by stating that “the world is changing and we should not be influenced by the ways of the past.” Modi believes he knows which way the wind blows. But he also believed so the last week of February, when the wind took him to Jerusalem on the eve of the bombing of Tehran.
Word Soup
BRICS, counterbalance to the G-7
BRIC is an acronym proposed in 2001 by economist Jim O’Neill of the investment bank Goldman Sachs, referring to the then emerging Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The group materialized at the end of that era and a year later South Africa joined, the S of BRICS. Its vocation was from the beginning as an alternative to the Western G-7, with “multipolarity” and the “global south” as favorite expressions. In 2024 it incorporated Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. In 2025, Indonesia. Although Saudi Arabia has not ratified its status as a full member, India classifies it as such at this XVIII Brics Summit. In any case, the new memberships have not changed the group’s name, at the risk of turning it into an alphabet soup. Together they account for 49.5% of the world population, 26% of trade, and 28% of GDP (40% in purchasing power parity).
