Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to attend the Brics Summit that India will host in New Delhi on September 12 and 13.
The gathering is set to take place amid tensions between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the ongoing West Asia conflict, Hindustan Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The presence of the three leaders is likely to open the door for separate bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, people involved in preparations for the summit said.
If Xi travels to India, it will mark his first visit to the country since October 2019, when he met Modi in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, for the second informal summit. Relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply within months after Chinese troop incursions in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Since then, PM Modi and Xi have held a series of diplomatic engagements. The two leaders met in Kazan, Russia, in October 2024 after both sides reached an understanding to end the military standoff along the LAC. Their most recent bilateral talks took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin last August.
India is hosting the Brics Summit for the first time in five years under the theme, “Building for resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability”. Discussions are expected to be influenced by differences between Iran and the UAE, both of which joined the grouping following its expansion in January 2024.
People familiar with the developments said all Brics members except the UAE have opposed any weakening of the language used in official documents on the Palestine issue and a two-state solution.
Pezeshkian’s participation is expected to provide an opportunity for Tehran to brief the Indian leadership on the situation in West Asia and discuss avenues for strengthening bilateral ties.
India-Iran relations have faced challenges since US sanctions halted India’s imports of Iranian oil in May 2019. The sanctions also affected New Delhi’s involvement in the Chabahar port project last year.
India is also expected to play a role in narrowing differences between Iran and the UAE, which support opposing sides in the conflict triggered by Israeli and US attacks on Iran in February.
Differences over the West Asia situation have already affected several Brics meetings. Several gatherings, including the foreign ministers’ meeting in May, concluded without consensus outcome documents.
Apart from Brics leaders, India has invited heads of government from several non-member countries. Among them is Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who has been invited in Bangladesh’s capacity as the current chair of Bimstec, the people said.
