UN Chief Guterres To Attend Delhi BRICS Summit

Synopsis

UN chief António Guterres will join India on September 12-13 for the 18th BRICS Summit in the Indian capital, his spokesperson said, making his fifth trip to the country and second so far this year. The summit will be held at Bharat Mandapam while India is chairing the fourth BRICS chairmanship, and will see the participation of leaders such as President Putin, Xi Jinping and Pezeshkian.

A Visit with an Engaged Schedule of Diplomatic Meetings

UN Secretary-General António Guterres will visit India next week for the BRICS Summit to meet with leaders of emerging economies around the world, his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said. The confirmation was directly from the press briefing room of the United Nations. The visit was planned and an official announcement will be made, Dujarric said on Tuesday.

It comes just as the next big multilateral event is around the corner. Guterres was at the just-concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, but did not have a formal meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It would be the fifth trip that Guterres made to India and second this year as he steps down as the UN chief in December. That was the historic first, as the AI Impact Summit was the first-ever global AI summit in the Global South.

India's Fourth Chair-ship

This year India will be the chair of the 18th BRICS Summit which will take place at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on 12-13 September, along with leaders of BRICS member countries, leaders of the partner countries and leaders of the members of the outreach invitees, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

As a founding member of the BRICS group, India will also chair the group in 2012, 2016 and 2021, and will take over the chair-ship of the group on 1st January 2026 in its fourth tenure.

This is a Consequential Guest List

Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China, and Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran will be present at the Sept. 12 start of the BRICS summit, which could be Guterres' final opportunity to meet with both Putin and Xi, formally or informally, as the latter two are not attending the annual high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly later this month.

I call for utmost restraint; for agreements and international law to be respected. On September 1, ahead of his trip to India, Guterres posted on the social media about the need for negotiations towards a just [peace] more than ever in the current situation of conflicts in the Middle East.

Regional Context

The 10 BRICS members are meeting at a tense moment for the world as tensions simmer in the Gulf region and Ukraine, while leaders of two great powers at odds in the region -- Iran and the United Arab Emirates -- are expected to attend.

India's selected theme is based on inclusive multilateralism. India, as the Chair, has theme of the summit as ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability', a theme which has been advocated by Guterres over the past decade as the UN's Secretary-General.

What to Watch

Guterres is likely to be closely monitored by diplomatic observers on whether he was able to achieve bilateral contacts with leaders on the sidelines of the summit with China and Russia, two sources of influence that are considered to be among his best options before the end of his term in December.