BRICS 2026: What’s on the Agenda and What Businesses Should Watch
The 18th BRICS summit, to be hosted by India in New Delhi on September 12–13, 2026, comes at an important transformative phase in the grouping. This year marks two decades since BRICS inception but the grouping that India hosts today looks very different from the original BRIC forum. From its original five members grouping to now a much expanded bloc, and from a primarily economic dialogue to a broader platform covering trade, technology, finance, climate and global governance. BRICS has significantly widened its focus.
India’s 2026 chairship is placing greater emphasis on implementation oriented economic cooperation. Its theme- “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”, highlights a focus on areas that can directly affect economic activity and business decision making, reflected in a year that has produced over 350 meetings and high level engagements across more than 25 cities.
While these broad themes sound impressive, what matters most to businesses is whether they deliver stable and predictable rules for cross-border commerce. So, the trade and investment agenda is one to watch. BRICS is considering more resilient and diversified supply chains, greater participation of developing economies in global value chains, trade facilitation, technology transfer and investment flows. This may impact general counsels’ approach to structuring cross-border transactions, determining regulatory risk, drafting commercial contracts and mitigating risks in more than one BRICS jurisdiction.
Another key area is digital trade, AI and technology cooperation. Discussions on safe, secure, inclusive and trustworthy AI have already been brought up at the ministerial level under India’s chairship, as well as digital public infrastructure. For legal teams, it means increased attention to data governance, IP, cybersecurity, AI liability and cross-border technology contracts as companies grow in BRICS markets.
The legal and dispute-resolution agenda is most important for the corporate legal community. Under India’s leadership, BRICS justice ministers India has already signed a declaration that seeks to enhance mediation and arbitration, including institutional reforms, capacity building and cooperation on best practices and digital tools. The BRICS Chief Justices’ Forum held in New Delhi from 4th-6th September took mediation in international commercial disputes and cross-border enforcement of arbitral awards to the forefront. These developments are relevant to companies with operations in BRICS markets as they will impact the implementation of dispute-resolution clauses in practice.
Lat but not least, sustainability and energy transition are relevant for businesses that have ESG, climate and supply-chain obligations. India’s chairship is bringing energy security, access and sustainable technologies to the fore and advocating for green finance and climate resilient development.
The true significance of the upcoming summit is not in the talks, but in the actions that will be taken. The results to be awaited are those that will help to make cross-border trade, investment, technology transactions and dispute resolution more predictable across BRICS jurisdictions.
