New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday announced that the second edition of its Bharat Summit will be held in Hyderabad on 13 and 14 November, bringing together 1,000 delegates from 70 countries to discuss the emergence of a new world order.
Former Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who chairs the Congress’s Foreign Affairs Department, said the party is keen to establish a foreign policy that “influences” the emerging global order. This would involve revisiting the principles of non-alignment in the context of today’s changing landscape.
“Progressive alliances have changed. Some of the forces we have been able to rely upon have since dissipated,” Khurshid said.
“We are dealing with the world as it emerges. We must be able to influence the emergence of a new global order and not just be reactive. Transactional foreign policy is something we disagree with. Ideological principles in foreign policy is something we agree with. Enlightened self-interest, we agree with. Non-alignment in another format is something we want to pursue,” he told mediapersons at the Congress office in New Delhi while announcing the summit.
Bharat Summit will bring together around 1,000 delegates from 70 countries, including policymakers and prominent leaders from progressive movements across the world.
The intention is to reflect the vision of Shri Rahul Gandhi for India and the world of tomorrow, and the… pic.twitter.com/tgMzBM1pRL
— Congress (@INCIndia) November 10, 2026
Referring to recent elections in Hungary, Brazil and Serbia, as well as the US midterm elections, Khurshid pointed to growing political changes as conservative governments continue to face headwinds.
The Congress is also preparing to launch a global think tank, “Our World”, which will bring together global progressive parties to share experiences and offer liberal platforms.
“Our World is a global think tank in which progressive think tanks across the globe and important political figures, many of them will contribute to [the] think tank that we will formally announce at this event,” Khurshid said.
Congress administration in-charge Gurdeep Singh Sappal said delegations from Brazil’s Workers’ Party, the UK’s Labour Party, South Africa’s African National Congress and Germany’s Social Democratic Party were expected to attend. He confirmed that the Communist Party of China would not be sending a delegation.
Khurshid said progressive parties from India’s neighbouring countries will not be in attendance because of the Ministry of External Affairs’ policy.
The Bharat Summit is also part of the Congress’s broader effort to showcase its governance model in Telangana and develop a coherent foreign policy position ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Khurshid said he personally remained comfortable with a “Nehruvian approach” to foreign policy, although the global geopolitical landscape had changed considerably since then.
Amongst the topics to be discussed during the summit are the impact of technology and artificial intelligence on democracies, South-South cooperation in a new world order, economic justice, security, multilateralism and geopolitics and social justice.
Describing the approach to inviting political parties as “progressive agnostic”, Khurshid said progressive movements took different forms across countries and political contexts. “There are also linkages, those who have more sharper or extremist views. We do have indications that some of them are happy to participate [in the Bharat Summit] as well,” he said.
“We are agnostic on where people will stand in the progressive landscape. We are standing for progressive movements against the conservative and illiberal views of the world,” he added.
Telangana Information Technology Minister Sridhar Babu and state Congress president Mahesh Kumar Goud were also present at the press conference. Babu highlighted the connection between the Bharat Summit and the investor summit being organised by the Telangana government next month.
He said the Bharat Summit would bring together not only international delegations but also “national delegations” and experts from different Indian states to exchange views on key governance issues.
(Edited by Chingkheinganbi Mayengbam)
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