BRICS ministers' meeting in New Delhi this week

BRICS diplomacy is in New Delhi this week, and the real story is not just that ministers are meeting. It is that India is trying to hold together a much bigger, much messier bloc while wars and rivalries are pulling members in different directions. The immediate news is simple — the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting runs on May 14-15 in Delhi, but China’s foreign minister Wang Yi is not coming. Beijing is sending Ambassador Xu Feihong instead. ### What is happening in Delhi? India is hosting the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting at Bharat Mandapam on May 14 and 15 as part of its 2026 presidency of the group. The agenda is broad — global governance, regional crises, and coordination before the leaders’ summit later this year. But broad agendas usually mean one thing in practice: everyone shows up carrying their own crisis. ### Why does China’s absence matter? Because BRICS without senior Chinese representation feels thinner immediately. China is the bloc’s biggest economy and one of its main political poles. The Hindu reported that Wang Yi is skipping for “scheduling reasons,” and that matters even if the formal explanation is mundane. A ministers’ meeting is where language gets shaped before leaders sign onto it later. If Beijing is not in the room at that level, India has less room to claim easy consensus. (msn.com) ### Who is still expected to matter most? Iran. That is the piece giving this meeting real edge. India’s earlier BRICS consultations in New Delhi already centered on the Middle East and North Africa, with members expressing concern over the recent regional conflict. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi is expected at this week’s meeting, which turns the Delhi gathering into more than a routine BRICS stop — it becomes a venue for live crisis management inside the bloc. (thehindu.com) ### Why is West Asia driving the agenda? Because BRICS expanded, and expansion imported new fault lines. The group now includes Iran and the UAE alongside older members like India, China, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa, plus newer members such as Egypt, Ethiopia, and Indonesia. That makes BRICS more globally representative on paper. But it also means rival states now sit at the same table while an active regional conflict is still unfolding. The catch is obvious — a larger bloc has more diplomatic weight, but also more internal veto points. (mea.gov.in) ### What is India trying to do? Basically, India is trying to keep BRICS useful without letting it become hostage to every disagreement inside it. Delhi wants the grouping to speak about reform of global institutions and the interests of the Global South. But India also wants to avoid language that would split members before the September summit. That is why these ministerial meetings matter — they are less about grand speeches and more about sanding down the sharpest edges before leaders meet. (mea.gov.in) ### Why does the date matter? Because this is not a one-off. The ministers’ meeting is a staging post before the BRICS summit scheduled for September 10-11. If Delhi cannot narrow differences now, the summit gets harder later. And if China is already dialing down representation at minister level, people will watch closely for what that signals about how invested major members are in India’s presidency. (thehindu.com) ### So what should you watch next? Watch the final language — if there is joint wording on the Middle East, maritime security, or institutional reform, that will tell you how much real cohesion remains. Also watch whether bilateral meetings around the sidelines produce more than the formal BRICS script. In gatherings like this, the official communique is only half the story. ### Bottom line? Delhi’s BRICS meeting matters because it shows what the expanded bloc is now — bigger, more ambitious, and much harder to align. (thehindu.com) India can still use the chair to keep the machine moving. But this week is also a reminder that BRICS is no longer a club of broadly compatible talking points. It is a coalition of competing priorities that has to negotiate almost every sentence.