Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian likely to attend BRICS Summit in New Delhi in September

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are expected to participate in the BRICS Summit to be hosted by India in New Delhi on September 12-13, say media reports quoting the government officials. 

The summit, being hosted by India after a gap of five years, comes at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, with the ongoing West Asia conflict and differences between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) expected to dominate discussions among the expanded BRICS grouping. 

"BRICS is an important platform for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries. China attaches great importance to and actively participates in BRICS cooperation. We support this year's chair India in making the BRICS Summit a full success," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing.

India has chosen the theme "Building for resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability" for this year's summit.

It is also expected that PM Modi will also hold bilateral meetings with Xi, Putin and Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the summit. 

Indian extended invitation to leaders

While Beijing is yet to make a formal announcement on Xi's visit, India has already extended an invitation to the Chinese President.  If China confimed, it will be Xi's first trip to India since the informal summit in Mamallapuram in October 2019. 

Relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply following the military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh in 2020, although ties have seen gradual improvement after the two sides reached an understanding on disengagement.

Modi and Xi last held bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, following an earlier meeting in Russia's Kazan in October 2024.

Russia confirmed Putin’s participation

The Kremlin has already confirmed that President Putin is expected to attend the summit, while Iran is also likely to participate, though Tehran is yet to announce the level of its representation.

Pezeshkian's presence is expected to provide an opportunity for discussions on the ongoing West Asia crisis and ways to strengthen India-Iran ties, which have weakened since US sanctions halted Indian imports of Iranian crude oil in 2019 and affected New Delhi's engagement in the Chabahar port project.

India has also invited leaders from several non-BRICS countries, including Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in his capacity as the current chair of BIMSTEC. Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman confirmed that Dhaka is reviewing the invitation. "We are currently reviewing it (invitation)," Rahman told reporters.