New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s BRICS chairship was based on a people-centric and humanity-first approach, with Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability as key priorities.
He said more than 350 meetings were organised during India’s BRICS chairship, with teams from member countries welcomed across nearly 30 cities. The Prime Minister thanked all participating countries for their support in making India’s chairship successful.
Calling this year’s BRICS Summit a historic milestone, Modi noted that BRICS is celebrating its 20th anniversary. He said the grouping has reached a “coming of age” moment and must now work on a new and ambitious agenda for the next 20 years.
Modi proposed a BRICS Continuity and Implementation Mechanism to ensure that institutional momentum continues despite the annual change in chairship. He suggested using the Troika to follow up on initiatives and outcomes and creating a secure digital repository to record decisions, nodal points, timelines and implementation status.
On global governance reforms, Modi said the Global South remains on the front row of global crises but in the back row of decision-making. He called for transforming the existing “pyramid of privilege” into a “platform of partnership” where every country has a voice and stake.
He proposed preparing 10 proposals on global governance reform and developing them into a BRICS Reform Roadmap by the next Summit, focusing on Representation, Responsiveness and Rule-making.
The Prime Minister stressed that UN Security Council reform cannot be delayed any longer and called for time-bound negotiations. He also advocated greater representation for emerging economies in global financial institutions.
Modi proposed a Seafarers Emergency Support Network to connect maritime authorities and missions for distress alerts, medical assistance, family communication and evacuation support.
He further called for enabling the Global South to become rule-shapers rather than rule-takers in emerging areas such as AI, cyberspace, outer space, biotechnology and critical technologies.
Concluding his address, Modi said, “If our future is shared, the right to shape that future must also be shared.” He described the vision for BRICS at 20 as: “From voice to impact. From privilege to partnership.”
