LIVE: Ministry Of External Affairs Briefs Media On BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:01]uh as all of you know the BRICS foreign minister's meeting under India's chairship was held uh from 14 to 15 May at Bat Mandapam with the participation of foreign ministers and heads of delegations of brick members and partner countries prior to the foreign minister's meeting bricks sharpa also met from 11 to 13th May to prepare for the foreign minister's meeting the bricks members and partner countries ministers and heads of delegation had the opportunity to call on honorable prime minister yesterday. There were also a number of bilateral engagements among the ministers as well during the course of two-day long foreign minister's meeting.

[00:00:40]EAM hosted a dinner for the visiting ministers and delegations where they were also given a glimpse of Indian culture.

[00:00:47]During the course of two-day foreign minister's meeting, discussion took place around three broader themes.

[00:00:53]global and regional matters, reform of global governance and multilateral system and bricks at 20 under the theme building for resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability.

[00:01:06]These three sessions allowed members to exchange views and share perspectives on main pillars of bricks strategic partnership, political and security, economic and financial and cultural and people-to-people relations.

[00:01:23]The session on the theme bricks at 20 allowed members to reflect on the evol evolution of the grouping in the last two decades and its growing relevance in addressing contemporary global challenges. Ministers also reflected on the nature of the cooperation under bricks during India's chairship this year under the theme building for resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability as well as the future direction of the grouping.

[00:01:53]During the session on reforms of global governance and multilateral systems, ministers underscored the need for a reformed multilateralism and that continued delay carries a high cost.

[00:02:06]Minister were of the view that multilateral system does not reflect the current global realities and it is critical to respond to the needs and aspirations of countries in the global south. In the session on global and regional matters, members exchange views and perspectives on the current geopolitical challenges including their impact on the global economy.

[00:02:28]I would like to underline that foreign minister's meeting took place in the backdrop of productive engagement and a number of technical level meetings across thematic sectors of bricks collaboration during our chairship. We have hosted so far as chair since January this year over 100 meetings both in virtual and inerson mode. These meetings covered areas such as agriculture, climate, environment, energy, health, ICT, science and technology, labor, tourism, youth affairs, disaster risk reduction, industry and finance. All the bricks members and partner countries are very appreciative and supportive of India's chairship priorities on the theme building for resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability.

[00:03:16]Building on this deliberation in the last two days and based on these discussions we have issued as chair uh and chair statement and outcome document. It captures the common position of bricks members on almost all the subjects under the three pillars of bricks strategic partnership to which I alluded to in my earlier part of the comments. The outcome documents cover common position on brisk cooperation in areas such as global and regional matters, reform of the institution of global governance including reforms of the UN security council, international financial institutions, fight against terrorism, trade, industry, finance, IIA, artificial intelligence, energy security, climate, biodiversity and sustainability, health and enhancing agriculture productivity and ensuring global food security and nutrition.

[00:04:09]supply chain resilience, disaster reduction, and of course, people-to-people exchanges, which is also a very key priority for our chairship.

[00:04:18]As you are all aware, the world today is navigating a period of unprecedented geopolitical and economic uncertainty, ongoing conflicts, economic volatility, climate related risks, advancement in technology and associated disruption, supply chain challenges and disruptions are reshaping the global landscape. All these matters are also interlin and have consequences for bricks members and I would say also for countries in the global south. There was a common view that bricks must work purposefully in seeking common grounds for achieving practical actionable inclusive and developmentoriented solutions through sustained engagement. I'm sure all of you have seen the statement made by honorable EAM in the preliminary session. So I would not like to go into the detail of what we have said in this meeting in these sessions with these words. Vasu I would be happy to respond to any question that my colleagues from media may have. Thank you.

[00:05:17]>> Thank you sir. I would request all of you to raise your hands um and introduce yourself and your outlet for the record for asking a question. Um we'll start with Saddant.

[00:05:29]>> I think sir we all have a one common question. the the fact that there was no joint statement and uh UA and Iran have been publicly sparring over it. So what's India's position on that?

[00:05:43]>> U Resa at the back.

[00:05:46]>> Uh related question Resa from Hindustan Times. Uh there was a press conference by the Iranian foreign minister a little while ago and he gave the impression that the UAE was the only country that held up consensus on a joint statement.

[00:06:01]I was wondering if uh we could have some more light on that and whether India is hopeful of you know being able to reach consensus on this before the summit.

[00:06:10]>> Um Manish Manish Chan the India rights network uh you know we heard a very strong uh you know exchange of uh uh you know views rhetoric between uh the foreign ministers of Iran and UAE.

[00:06:28]uh now I want also want to know what were the position of the other bricks uh members like new members especially say for example uh Egypt Ethiopia and he just spoke about the US only uh country holding up consensus is that true or there were dissenting notes within that overall and what is India's strategy to navigate these differences going forward thank you Aushi >> uh so this is Aayushal from ANI so what is India's response to expectations from Iran uh that New Delhi take a more proactive uh diplomatic role in this deescalation efforts. Thank you.

[00:07:08]>> So next question.

[00:07:10]>> Yes sir.

[00:07:17]>> Well thank you very much for these questions. I think on the first question about uh the uh result of this meeting as I mentioned to you uh we have uh an outcome document which we have posted online which has 63 paragraphs and uh and if you look at that paragraph as chair it is our responsibility to make sure that we we facilitate dialogue and discussion among all the members uh on all issues that are before bricks uh at this stage and uh and I'm happy to share that uh almost in all matters uh that we are discussing under the three verticles of strategic partnership, political and security, economic and finance, casual and P2P relations uh we could find common grounds uh uh among all members.

[00:08:05]uh so the fact that we have a a good outcome document with those understandings across uh thematic sectors on issues of global governance on agriculture, health, UNC, terrorism.

[00:08:18]uh so I would say that you know uh that we have had a very productive uh uh uh week uh for BRICS through bricks foreign minister's meeting and the exchanges that took place in the last two days and the outcome document as I mentioned earlier reflects the common position of members almost on all subjects and and that is very positive to to to us. Now uh I'm sure some of you would have already read this uh outcome document from the reform of uh global economic governance to the condemnation of terrorism in all its form from combating uh climate change pandemics and disaster to recognizing the humanentric approach to artificial intelligence. Uh from promoting deeper engagement among startups and thememes to enhancing cooperation on digital public infrastructure for economic growth. All in all, I would say bricks foreign ministers articulated their support for the practical cooperation in various domains across three pillars of peace and security, economic and finance, cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

[00:09:23]So I would say that uh that uh I would request uh everyone to uh to study this document very carefully and I feel that it provides us a very good sort of basis for our preparation for the summit that is going to happen in the second half of this year. I would like to also say that uh that uh there are uh more than 20 thematic ministerial tracks from agriculture to health to trade to finance to uh labor and employment uh culture and all these ministerial meeting will start happening in the coming days and weeks and the result of all these meetings will feed into the summit preparations. So uh the fact that we have an outcome document with common views of brick members on almost all issue I think is a in my view a very positive outcome of this meeting and we would be engaging uh with all the brick members and partner countries going forward build consensus wherever we can and I'm very confident that uh that we would have uh uh good engagement and and consultations uh in the runup to summit uh in the second half of this year uh on the issue of uh the situation uh in the in the uh in the uh West Asia uh to which Manish Gi mentioned. Uh I would say that uh I would say that uh uh uh that there were frank and candid uh sharing of assessments and uh national positions by members uh by all members brick members. uh it is a fact that there were uh differing views uh among some members as regard the situation in West Asia. Uh Briggs members as I mentioned earlier shared their respective national positions and shared a range of perspectives on this matter.

[00:11:12]Views articulated by them also included the need for an early resolution of the current crisis, the value of dialogue and diplomacy, uh respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, upholding international law, the importance of safe and unimpeded flow of maritime commerce through international waterways and the protection of civilian infrastructure and civilian lives. There was also a discussion uh by members since you asked me the perspective of other members. There was uh a discussion uh good discussion I would say on the consequences uh of uh the situation on glo global economy uh uh and uh and this was stressed by several members uh in the in the in the discussion. So uh as I mentioned uh as as chairs our our responsibility is to facilitate dialogue and discussion among members build consensus where wherever we can and we managed to build consensus almost on all issued and that is why we have an outcome document which we have transparently shared with all of you and and uh and uh we will continue to as I said uh as chair continue to engage through Sherpa channel with other countries and uh and continue to engage and find find common grounds.

[00:12:25]uh I think Aayushi had asked a question which is not really uh bricks related but uh but uh something different so I think I'll defer that question for the time being. Thank you.

[00:12:38]>> I I would request all of you to restrict your questions to the BRICS foreign minister's meeting given the context of this press briefing. Um Sudhi at the back.

[00:12:48]>> Thank you. Sir Shud Ranjun from Bloomberg sir here. Uh sir generally wanted an understanding we see two descent notes one on Babal Mandeb uh and one also on Palestine. If you could uh give us an understanding which are the countries which had a problem with this and what exactly was their position.

[00:13:11]So um talking about these two paragraphs which Shi just spoke about uh what I mean um why would anyone oppose uh uh navigation through Babal Mandab and also on the Palestinian issue one would presume that all all of them are on the same page and also the fact that India could not evolve a consensus on all issues. uh can we uh does it does it make it very difficult uh to uh for this uh for a complete consensus for the leaders summit and just one final thing if I could just sneak it in uh the um right after UAE was a participant and the PM just went to the UAE so uh are we to presume that you know we have sort of reconciled to the fact that we have to throw in a lot with one uh you know one part of the divide and uh so on thanks Kalul sir Kul from the Hindu sir um considering that the language on Palestine in the BRICS chair uh chair statement and the outcome document is very clear. It calls for the creation of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Um considering the fact that the prime minister of India visited Israel just uh you know 2 and a half months ago and considering the close relation that we have with Israel um is this indicative of a shift in India's policy towards the the region or is it somehow rooted in some sort of historical continuity because uh we have not seen that sort of categorical statement on the creation of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital in quite some time from the government of India.

[00:14:56]Thank you. Secretary Kesha Padman Aban from the print. Uh just on paragraph 26 which is where you have the descent on Palestine. Was the issue with regards to supporting the Palestinian Authority for their reforms or was it rather on the occupation of Gaza Strip and that that's an inalienable right to Palestine? Which part of that paragraph was a problem?

[00:15:19]And if I may, paragraph 42 talks about the multilateral trading system and issues with tariffs based on climate change initiatives which to the best of my knowledge refers to CBAM and such measures as well as unilateral tariffs.

[00:15:35]So can you give us a sense of what was the discussion on this and whether the bricks members had any sense of how to collectively respond to such measures that have been you know taken in the recent past by certain organizations and countries.

[00:15:50]Well, thank you very much. I think I'll start with the last question perhaps about the uh discussion and references to uh uh economic matters particularly the unilateral measures or positions or uh uh uh regulation that country may have uh related to trade or trade related aspect. You mentioned climate in this case. So uh so did minister did really exchange uh views on uh global economic outlook including concerns regarding uh unilateral measures and their disproportionate impact uh on developing countries. Now I would like to also mention here that uh that this discussion was guided by brick's uh long-standing commitment brick as a grouping to a rule-based non-discriminatory transparent and inclusive multilateral trading system with WTO at its core and and uh and uh so to to answer your question yes there was a discussion uh on such measures and there are two or three paragraph actually regarding this matter uh as chair chair uh as in as chair of the bricks currently our focus would remain going forward in building collaboration cooperation strengthening supply chain resilience uh uh and also uh supporting the reform of the multilateral trading system there's also a discussion on what happened in the recently concluded WTO ministerial conference in Cameroon and the reform of WTO and how all of us can work together uh uh to pursue the interest of uh country in the global south. uh there were questions about uh about uh the fact that uh since we have uh no full consensus I would say on one aspect of the brisk collaboration which is par 22 here the situation situation in middle east how will it impact the summit preparation as I mentioned earlier we have to see the outcome document in totality the fact that we have common views of brick members on almost all the matters that are that we are discussing under the three verticals political and security, economic and trade and finance, cultural, people-to-people relations uh uh to my mind and to our mind as chair is very very positive and uh and it as I said earlier it provides us a very good basis actually to pursue discussion and dialogue through various channels of communication we have under bricks you know uh we do meet as bricks sharpa virtually also regularly apart from having inerson meeting and uh as I mentioned earlier we do have number of ministerial tracks and many minial tracks are are having meetings of working group. For example, health working group has nine health health ministerial track has nine working groups uh ranging on different topics of interest to brick members. And I'm very confident that through discussions in the next few weeks and months in in the runup to summit we would result into it they will result into concrete deliverables and outcomes and all this will come into play in terms of the preparations for the leader summit in the second half of this year and I'm very very optimistic and confident that we will uh uh through our dialogue and discussion we will be able to build consensus uh on on all these aspects for the summit. Uh finally there were questions about two paragraphs in the in the in the declaration in the outcome document regarding uh uh uh uh regarding some regional matters. Uh as I mentioned earlier to you as chair uh it is our responsibility to make sure that we reflect the views of members uh in a very transparent and objective manner as possible. Uh and and we have done that in the outcome document. uh and uh and if you look at these paragraphs these two paragraph which you mentioned these paragraphs relate to are specific to a region and you know what region I'm talking about in which one of the members from the region had a differing perspective uh on few elements and uh and uh and it is our duty to make sure that that we respect uh that view uh and uh and hence this and this footnote uh but going forward as I said we will continue to engage on these matters and and make sure that we can find common grounds on these one and one and a half issue that we have remaining in the outcome document. Finally, uh you're very right that we do have uh uh uh paragraphs regarding regarding the uh the uh uh regarding Palestine. Uh I think BRICS has had a very coherent and clear view on on on matters relating to Palestine. If you look at the uh uh uh previous declaration Rio declaration also we had a common view and I'm happy that members and ministers could discuss these matters again in a in a very candid manner and could articulate that common view again. So so I don't see this as a departure perhaps to my mind but uh but as a as a reflection of BRICS countries making sure that they they have a view and they are willing to express that view collectively.

[00:20:54]Thank you.

[00:20:55]>> Thank you. Uh with that we come to an end of the briefing. I would uh request you all to stay connected with the MEA um and follow the progress of the prime minister's visit to Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Italy. Thank you so much for joining us today.

[00:21:22]Heat. Heat.