Brazil hosts BRICS summit, PM Modi will be there

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, right, flashes a thumbs up as he and China’s Premier Li Qiang pose for photos during their bilateral meeting ahead of the upcoming 17th annual BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, July 5, 2025

Brazil will play host to a summit of the BRICS bloc of economies who now surpass the G7 by a wide margin. They will discuss pressing topics like Israel’s attack on Iran, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and trade tariffs imposed by Donald Trump and how to deal with them.

Analysts and diplomats are now analyzing how the new enlarged BRICS, which doubled in size last year, will function as another pole in world affairs. They are worry that the summit’s member countries may spoil the tune of Trump’s trumpet.

Some of the priorities, such as debates on artificial intelligence and climate change will be in focus as India,China and Russia are all leaders in these fields.

PM the most popular World leader and the leader of the Worlds most populous country will be there. Though China’s Xi Jinping won’t attend the BRICS summit for the first time since he became his country’s leader in 2012 for reasons not clear. Russian President Vladimir Putin, will make an appearance via videoconference, as he avoids traveling abroad due to Ukraine conflict.

The Rio de Janeiro summit will surely talk about World economy and also trade payment systems which would allow it to do away with various unilateral Western sanctions ( as India, China are now totally fed of these ) imposed on Russia and others based on whims and fancies.

A source involved in the negotiations told journalists Friday that some members of the group want more aggressive language on the situation in Gaza and Israel’s attack on Iran.
“Brazil wants to keep the summit as technical as possible,” said Oliver Stuenkel, a professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation think tank and university.

Consequently, observers expect a vague final declaration regarding Ukraine conflict and conflicts in the Middle East. Pakistan too may get chastised for its support to terrorism.
The absences of Putin and Xi, may tone down the anti-Western stance, and as far as India is concerned, it now lays down its own foreign policies irrespective of other World Powers and Brazil prefers non-alignment.

A Brazilian government official told The Associated Press Thursday that the group is expected to produce three joint statements and a final declaration, “all of which less bounded by current geopolitical tensions.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the summit’s preparations.

Though many international business and geopolitics analysts feel the summit could play a role in showing an alternative to an unstable world. Though the withdrawal of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the uncertainty about the level of representation for countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE due ongoing Iran- Israel conflict may prevent major decisions.

Brazil, the country that chairs the bloc, has picked six strategic priorities for the summit: global cooperation in healthcare; trade, investment and finance; climate change; governance for artificial intelligence; peace-making and security; and institutional development. It has decided to focus on issues, such as promoting trade relations between members and global health.

Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs against the bloc if they take any moves to undermine the dollar but now BRICS has exposed the hollowness of his tariff threats. As well as new members, the bloc has 10 strategic partner countries, a category created at last year’s summit that includes Belarus, Cuba and Vietnam.

That rapid expansion led Brazil to put housekeeping issues — officially termed institutional development — on the agenda to better integrate new members and boost internal cohesion.

For Lula, the summit will be a welcome pause from a difficult domestic scenario, marked by a drop in popularity and conflict with Congress. The meeting also represents an opportunity to advance climate negotiations and commitments on protecting the environment before November’s COP 30 climate talks in the Amazonian city of Belem.