India is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers from BRICS nations on May 14-15 in New Delhi, serving as a precursor to the 18th BRICS summit scheduled for September. The gathering coincides with US President Donald Trump's three-day state visit to Beijing for talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

BRICS, originally formed in 2006 as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and expanded to include South Africa in 2010, is a bloc of major emerging economies aiming to amplify the Global South's voice in international forums traditionally dominated by the West. In 2023, invitations were extended to Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and later Indonesia joined in 2025.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, South Africa's Ronald Lamola, and Brazil's Mauro Vieira are confirmed attendees. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will skip the meeting due to Trump's visit, with China represented by Ambassador to India Xu Feihong. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in New Delhi and is expected to hold bilateral talks on the sidelines.

The official theme is "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability," focusing on healthcare challenges. However, analysts predict the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran and the genocide in Gaza will dominate discussions. An April deputy ministers' meeting ended without a joint statement after Iran and the UAE clashed over the war, with tensions further escalating since then.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war has triggered an energy crisis, directly impacting BRICS members like India and China, which rely heavily on Gulf oil, and Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which export through the strait. Experts doubt the summit will produce a consensus statement beyond general condemnations, given internal divisions and India's closer ties with the US and Israel.

Source: www.aljazeera.com