BRICS Summit 2026 in Delhi: Date, venue, schedule, agenda and key leaders - All you need to know

India is set to host the 18th BRICS Summit in the national capital, New Delhi, next Saturday and Sunday (Sep 12–13). To be held at Bharat Mandapam under India’s chairship, the summit will bring together leaders of BRICS member and partner countries, along with outreach invitees. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to attend. The year also marks 20 years since the establishment of BRICS. Here are all the main details you should know:

India’s chairship of BRICS and the theme of the summit

India, a founding member of BRICS along with Brazil, Russia and South Africa, previously held the chairship in 2012, 2016 and 2021. New Delhi assumed the chairship for the fourth time on January 1 this year. Under India’s chairship, the theme for 2026 is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”, reflecting India’s spirit of “Humanity First”.

More than 350 meetings and high-level engagements have been held in more than 25 Indian cities during India’s chairship, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. These engagements focused on strengthening the BRICS strategic partnership and producing practical and development-oriented outcomes. BRICS foreign ministers met in Delhi on May 14 and 15.

BRICS Summit schedule, venue and events

The BRICS Leaders’ Summit will take place on Saturday and Sunday (September 12–13) at Bharat Mandapam, located in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The BRICS Business Forum is scheduled for September 11 at Bharat Mandapam. There will also be a Women’s Business Alliance meeting alongside the Forum.

BRICS arrangements across Delhi: Tight security, holiday for government offices on Friday

India’s Central Government offices located in Delhi will remain closed on Friday (Sep 11) to facilitate logistical arrangements and minimise inconvenience to the public. Security has been tightened around the summit area and the rest of the national capital. The Delhi government separately declared September 11 a public holiday for its offices, autonomous bodies and public sector undertakings. The capital is likely to see heavy security deployment and traffic restrictions through the summit days given the VVIP movements.

BRICS Summit 2026: What are the priorities?

BRICS has three core pillars: political and security cooperation, economic and financial cooperation, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The summit and associated events will deliberate on strengthening resilience, encouraging innovation, expanding cooperation and advancing sustainability, while keeping the grouping’s work people-centric.

Resilient supply chains and trade, cross-border payments and greater use of national currencies are focus areas. Growth of MSMEs, digital trade, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies will also be discussed. Energy security, development finance, including the New Development Bank, climate resilience and reform of global governance institutions are also likely to come up in the deliberations.

A joint Leaders’ Declaration is expected, although negotiations and the final text remain subject to agreement among members at the Sherpa level. The first such meeting was chaired by India’s BRICS Sherpa, Sudhakar Dalela.

About BRICS: Who are the members and partners?

BRICS has 11 members: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. It also has 10 partner countries: Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Indonesia joined as a full member in 2025. The 10 partner countries were formally welcomed into the expanded BRICS framework.

Xi, Putin and more: Who are the leaders attending and participating in BRICS Summit 2026?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the summit, which is likely to see attendance by Chinese President Xi Jinping, though China had not formally confirmed his participation at the time of writing. If Xi visits, it would be his first trip to India since the 2019 Mamallapuram informal summit with Modi. A Modi-Xi bilateral meeting on the sidelines is widely anticipated. The Chinese leader's delegation could run to around 400 officials, roughly double the 2019 contingent, according to some media reports. There has been intense diplomacy between China and India, the latest being the 25th round of Special Representative talks between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on August 28.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend, as confirmed by the Kremlin. This would be his second India visit in under a year, after the annual bilateral summit in New Delhi in December 2025. Modi renewed the invitation to Putin in person when the two leaders met at the SCO summit in Bishkek on August 31.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul are also expected to attend the summit.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will likely take part, though a formal announcement is pending.

BRICS 2026 website

The official logo and website for the Indian chairship were launched on January 13. You can visit the BRICS 2026 portal, brics2026.gov.in, for details of the summit.