New Delhi: India is set to host the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting in the second week of May. It could be the first time that representatives of Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) meet face-to-face since the ongoing war in West Asia began at the end of February.
The likely dates of the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting are 14 and 15 May.
A person familiar with the matter said invitations have been sent to the foreign ministers of all 11 members of the grouping. Foreign ministers from China, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran are all expected to attend the meeting hosted in the Indian national capital.
India is the current chair of BRICS, with the leaders’ summit expected to be held in the first week of September. The grouping expanded in 2023, from the original five (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) with six additional members.
The grouping has remained silent on the current conflict in West Asia, given that two countries on opposite sides are members of the organisation.
The UAE has faced the brunt of Iran’s retaliation since the end of February. Iran has launched over 2,500 missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at the UAE, following the US-Israel strikes on 28 February.
A fragile ceasefire remains in place since 8 April. However, negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the conflict did not yield an agreement between the US and Iran last weekend in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
The US has instituted a naval blockade against Iran since 13 April in an attempt to force Tehran to come to an agreement with Washington. Tehran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, until a new mechanism can be established to allow the transit of ships through the international waterway.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has impacted the UAE’s economy with ships headed to or originating from Emirati ports prevented from free navigation through the waterway, as it was before the conflict. Riyadh is also listed a member of the BRICS, on the website helmed by the Ministry of External Affairs for the 2026 calendar year.
However, Saudi Arabia has maintained a slight distance from the organisation as it has so far held off from formally joining, according to reports. Nevertheless, the foreign ministers’ meeting next month could potentially see the foreign ministers or senior officials from Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia come face-to-face.
Riyadh has also engaged with Iranian missiles and UAVs over the 40-day conflict. During the 40-day conflict, India was in touch with the members of the organisation. However, BRICS did not release a statement outlining its positions given the difficulties in reaching a consensus.
For India, BRICS remains a key pillar of its foreign policy. It was during the BRICS Summit in 2024 held in the Russian city of Kazan, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since the clashes at Galwan in the summer months of 2020.
The Modi-Xi meeting at the BRICS Summit in 2024 paved the way for India and China to initiate several confidence building measures to stabilise ties and move towards normalisation. The following year, Modi visited the Chinese city of Tianjin for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, another grouping with New Delhi and Beijing as members.
A couple of weeks after the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting, India is expected to host a similar meeting of the Quad foreign ministers as reported by ThePrint Tuesday. The Quad meeting will see Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar interact with his American, Japanese and Australian counterparts. If held, this will be the first such interaction between the four foreign ministers since the last meeting in July 2025.
The end of May is also likely to see India host heads of governments of a number of African countries for the fourth India-Africa Forum Summit. The Summit will be held for the first time in 11 years, as New Delhi seeks to deepen its outreach to Africa.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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