New Delhi, Sept. 14: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said India’s leadership at the 18th BRICS Summit focused on building consensus, as member countries unanimously adopted the New Delhi Declaration and reaffirmed cooperation across political, security, economic and people-to-people spheres.
The summit was held on September 12 and 13 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi under the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”. Singh said the outcome marked India’s growing influence on the international stage and described the declaration as a major achievement.
In a post on X, Singh said India had made resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability its key priorities during its BRICS chairship. He said the chairship also placed emphasis on connecting BRICS cooperation directly with people through an inclusive and human-centric approach.
Singh said the New Delhi Declaration was more than a formal document and reflected India’s increasing global influence. He said India had placed the Global South at the centre of discussions while advocating a more inclusive, representative and balanced world order.
BRICS members reached consensus on a joint statement on the first day of the summit. The agreement came despite divergent geopolitical positions among member countries and was described as a major diplomatic breakthrough.
The New Delhi Declaration reaffirmed the members’ commitment to mutual respect and understanding, sovereign equality, solidarity, democracy, openness, inclusiveness, collaboration and consensus.
The document also condemned the Pahalgam terror attack and reflected a consensus on adopting a zero-tolerance approach towards terrorism.
Building on two decades of BRICS cooperation, the declaration committed members to strengthening the expanded grouping through three pillars: political and security cooperation; economic and financial cooperation; and cultural and people-to-people cooperation.
It said the partnership would work towards peace, a more representative and fairer international order, a reformed multilateral system, sustainable development and inclusive growth.
The declaration also commended India for hosting the Outreach/BRICS Plus Dialogue segment and said the country’s chairship had given “new impetus” to international cooperation and solidarity.
Singh congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the summit’s outcome and said India had demonstrated that leadership was about securing the strongest consensus rather than having the loudest voice.
